<2t3-u> 


T?a.Vi' 


HINDUISM  AND  THE  HINDU  PEOPLE. 

k1 


• • f 


HINDUISM 


-AND  - 

THE  HINDU  PEOPLE. 


BEING  THE  SUBSTANCE  OF  EXTEMPORE  ADDRESSES  DELIVERED 

BY 


RAM  CHANDRA  BOSE, 


Delegate  to  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

from  North  India. 


1NDIANOLA,  IOWA: 

ADVOCATE-TRIBUNE  PRINTING  HOUSE. 
1888. 


I 


PREFACE. 


The  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  this  volume  go  to  the  Endowment  Fund  of  the 
Centennial  School,  Lucknow,  India. 


I know  of  no  Institution  in  connection,  either  with  our  own  or  with 
other  Missions,  so  well  fitted  to  serve  the  status  of  the  native  Christian 
community  in  every  respect  as  our  own  Christian  College  in  this  large  .and 
influential  city.  Within  its  walls  the  young  men,  on  whom  the  choicest 
hopes  of  that  community  are  centered,  receive  a liberal  education,  and  are 
at  the  same  time  not  merely  shielded  from  the  demoralizing  influences  by 
which  the  very  best  fruits  of  Government  educational  establishments  are 
often  blighted,  but  thoroughly  equipped  for  the  various  duties  they  are  to 
be  called  upon  as  members  of  aggressive  churches  in  a non-Christian 
country  to  discharge.  Missionary  work  in  these  Provinces  has  for  some 
years  past  been  rising  naturally,  not  on  account  of  an  artificial  pressure, 
from  the  masses  to  the  higher  orders  of  society,  and  the  demand  for  a class 
of  well-educated  and  respectable  preachers  has  been  proportionately  grow- 
ing. Our  theological  seminaries  will  have  before  long  to  add  to  their 
existing  organizations  classes  fitted  to  prepare  such  preachers,  over  and 
above  those  who  are  annually  coming  out  of  them  to  do  a branch  of  work 
which  ought  never  to  be  neglected  for  a moment.  To  what  can  the  forth- 
coming classes,  already  contemplated  by  far-seeing  men  like  the  Principal 
of  our  Bareilly  Theological  Seminary,  look  for  the  supply  needed  to  make 
them  successful  with  such  well-grounded  hopes  as  to  Institutions  like  our 
Christian  College  ? But  barring  the  growing  demand  for  first-class 
preachers,  the  country  peremptorily  demands  a class  of  educated  native 
Christians,  capable  in  different  spheres  of  Usefulness  of  influencing  those 
classes  of  educated  natives,  which  are  being  daily  led  and  strengthened  by 
Government  Colleges  and  Schools.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  our 
schemes  having  for  their  object  the  perfect  independence  of  the  native 
churches  are  sure  to  prove  abortive,  if  native  Christians  are  not  prepared, 
by« superior  education,  for  the  responsible  and  remunerative  posts  which 
have  hitherto  been  almost  entirely  monopolized  by  Hindus,  Mussulmans, 
European  and  Eurasian  Christians.  An  institution  fitted  to  subserve  such 
a variety  of  noble  objects  is  certainly  deserving  of  encouragement  and  sup- 
port. RAM  CHANDRA  BOSE, 

[Delegate  to  the  Methodist  General  Conference  of  1880.] 
Lucknow,  January  1,  1883. 


.H I N Da  f P.H  I L1O3OP.H  Y- 


I must  be  pi  n with  a word  of  explanation.  As  I am  not  a Sanscrit  scholar, 
my  knowledge  of  Hindu  Philosophy  is  superficial,  and  my  appearance  in  a 
Hall  of  Philosophy  among  lecturers  distinguished  by  breadth  of  scholarship 
and  acuteness  of  thought  is  an  anachronism.  But  for  this,  as  I had  not  been 
consulted  before  my  name  appeared  in  print  in  connection  with  theirs,  I am 
no  more  responsible  than  the  Emperor  of  Russia  is  for  the  progress  of 
Nihilism  in  his  vast  empire. 

To  begin  Hindu  Philosophy  is  typical  in  its  origin,  typical  in  its  genius 
and  character,  and  typical  in  its  tendencies  and  results. 

Hindu  Philosophy  is  typical  in  its  origin  : it  owes  its  origin  to  a reaction 
against  ritualism.  The  age  of  pure  nature-worship  pictured  in  the  grand 
old  hymns  of  the  Rigveda,  the  oldest  and  purest  of  the  religious  books  of 
the  Hindus,  was  followed  by  an  era  of  dead  forms  and  lifeless  observances. 
A gorgeous  ceremonial  service  superseded  a simple,  though  unauthorized 
form  of  worship,  and  an  order  of  priesthood  destined  before  long  to  usurp 
all  authority  human  and  divine  was  called  into  existence.  Exaggerated 
importance  was  attached  to  forms  and  ceremonies,  and  the  value  of  sacrifices 
was  set  forth  in  glowing  terms  of  panegyric.  Purity  of  life  and  conduct 
was  neglected,  truths  fitted  to  ameliorate  the  human  heart  were  thrown  into 
the  background,  and  religion  was  reduced  to  a series  of  mummeries  and 
tomfooleries.  This  state  of  tilings  could  not  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case 
last  long  unchecked,  and  so  a reaction  against  the  farce  of  ritualism  mani- 
fested itself.  But  human  thought,  when  not  guided  by  revealed  truth  and 
the  gracious  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  proceeds  from  one  extreme  to  the 
other,  and  so  the  excesses  of  superstition  disappeared  only  to  make  room 
for  the  vagaries  of  rationalism.  And  thus  Hindu  philosophy  appeared  as 
the  resultant  of  the  forces  at  work  in  a ceremonial  age.  And  if  the  history 
of  philosophy  in  all  its  local  and  ephemeral  forms  and  manifestations  were 
carefully  ransacked  and  clearly  set  forth,  such  would  appear  to  be  its 
origin  in  all  the  countries,  ancient  and  modem,  in  which  it  has  nourished. 
The  non-Christian  religions  of  the  world  have  vibrated  between  ritualism 
and  rationalism ; and  even  Christianity  under  the  guidance  of  men  of  ex- 
treme views  and  wrong  tendencies  has  followed  their  example.  Hindu  phil- 
osophy is  typical  in  its  origin. 

Hindu  philosophy  is  typical,  not  only  in  its  origin,  but  in  its  genius  and 
character.  It  embodies  an  attempt  to  solve  a number  of  unsolvable  prob- 


4 


lems,  an  attempt  resulting,  though  made  by  some  of  the  acutest  intellects 
-the  world  ever  saw,  in  a miserable  if  not  ludicrous  failure.  These  problems 
are  in  the  phraseology  of  philosophy  called  the  problems  of  existence. 
Whfcre  has  the  world  come  from?  Where  have  I come  from?  Why  does 
the  world  exist?  Why  do  I exist?  What  relation  subsists  between  me  and 
the  lumps  of  matter  in  close  association  with  and  around  me,  between  the 
ego  within  and  thenon-ego  without?  What  is  the  ego?  What  the  ncn-ego? 
What  is  the  meaning  of  my  irrepressible  aspiration  after  the  infinite?  Is  there 
a personal  God?  What  is  his  essence  and  what  the  relation  He  bears  to  us 
and  to  the  inanimate  objects  around  us?  Such  aie  some  of  the  perplexing 
questions  which  Indian  philosophy  undertakes  to  solve;  and  such  are  the 
questions  which  philosophy  in  all  its  phases  of  development  has  considered 
it  its  duty  to  solve.  But  they  are  inscrutable  mysteries,  and  a bold  and  licen- 
tious attempt  to  tamper  with  them  is  only  a prelude  to  mistakes  and  errors 
of  the  wildest  character.  A practical  solution  of  some  of  these  problems  is 
offered  by  our  moral  intuitions  and  by  revelation;  but  philosophy  presump- 
tuously casts  these  sources  of  light  overboard,  and  in  its  unassisted  endeav- 
ors to  grapple  with  mysterious  truths,  it  entangles  itself  in  mazes  and  laby- 
rinths from  which  there  is  no  escape.  The  complications  Dy  which  we  find 
Indian  philosophy  hemmed  in  are  the  very  complications  amid  which  we 
find  philosophic  speculations  of  every  species  and  tendency  hopelessly 
entangled.  And  the  errors  with  which  Indian  philosophy  bristles,  are  the 
errors  which  have  characterized  philosophic  thought  in  all  its  phases  of 
development.  Hindu  philosophy  typifies  philosophy  in  general  in  its 
attempt  to  solve  a number  of  unsolvable  problems,  in  the  complications 
amid  which  it  lias  allowed  itself  to  be  entangled,  and  lastly,  in  the  errors 
by  which  it  is  disfigured. 

0 

It  is,  moreover,  typical  in  its  tendencies  and  results.  Man  is  emphat- 
ically .and  intensely  a religious  being;  and  when  speculative  philosophy,  or 
science,  falsely  so-called,  brings  man  where  his  moral  intuitions  are  thrown 
overboard,  and  worship  is  converted  into  a mockery,  a revulsion  of  feeling 
leading  to  to  a reaction  towards  religion  is  the  inevitable  consequence. 
But  man  is,  alas!  a fallen  being  also,  and  a reaction  in  his  case  means  an 
unrestrained,  not  a well  regulated  oscillation  of  the  pendulum  of  thought 
and  belief;  and  so  from  one  extreme  he  swings  back  to  the  other.  The 
extreme  of  elaborate,  but  meaningless  ritualism,  leads  him  to  the  extreme 
of  philosophic  nihilism,  and  the  extreme  of  philosophic  nihilism  brings  him 
back  to  the  extreme  of  meaningless  ritualism.  The  history  of  philosophy  in 
ancient  and  modem  times  proves  this  to  a demonstration.  The  era  of 
rationalistic  development  brought  about  in  India  by  a reaction  against  the 
cold  and  senseless  formality  of  the  ceremonial  age,  depicted  in  the  Brahmans, 
was  followed  by  an  age  of  ritualism  even  more  dreary  and  meaningless 
than  that  from  which  philosophic  vagaries  of  even  the  wildest  kind  seemed 


5 


a relief.  And  that  vast  country  has,  during  the  entire  period  of  its  exis- 
tence, been  oscillating  between  the  opposite  extremes  of  gross  superstition 
and  licentious  speculation.  Such  was  precisely  the  case  in  all  those  coun- 
tries of  the  ancient  world  in  which  speculative  thought  was  pushed  to  the 
extreme  of  nihilistic  developments;  and  such  has  been  the  case  even  in 
those  more  favored  lands  where  philosophy  might  have  been  preserved,  but 
for  its  supercilious  contempt  of  revealed  truth,  from  treading  the  path  of 
error.  Mysticism  in  Germany  gave  birth  to  a form  of  rationalism,  which 
by  the  law  of  reaction  produced  pietism,  and  this  form  of  superstition 
resulted  only  in  riveting  the  chains  of  wild  speculation.  And  if  the  history 
of  individual  philosophers  were  clearly  known  as  that  of  not  a few  is,  their 
mental  aberration  would  tell  the  same  tale— superstition  breeding  ration- 
alism and  rationalism  reproducing  superstition. 

But  Hindu  philosophy  has  its  local  idiosyncrasy,  as  well  as  its  typical 
character.  This  consists  of  two  elements,  its  characteristic  dreaminess  and 
its  intense  religiousness. 

Hindu  philosophy  is  peculiarly  dreamy.  All  philosophy,  not  excepting 
that  which  has  grown  up  under  the  rigid  analysis  of  the  scientific  method, 
is  more  or  ft*s  fanciful  and  dreamy..  Take  for  instance,  the  beautiful 
theory  which  traces  the  progress  of  man  from  his  supposed  primeval  state 
of  savagery  to  his  present  glorious  stage  of  civilization  to  what  is  called  the 
law  of  self-development.  This  is  a beautiful  theory  of  progress,  but  it  is 
based  on  a dream,  viz. : that  the  original  condition  of  man  was  the  savage 
state,  an  assumption  never  proved  and  obviously  inconsistent  with  the 
traditions  of  nations.  Take  as  another  example,  the  scientifically  devel- 
oped materialism  of  the  day,  the  system  which  brings  the  world  out  of  a 
primordial  form.  This  theory  has  strong  lines  of  beauty  and  even  sublim- 
ity, but  it  is  based  upon  a myth,  the  existence  of  this  primordial  form ! Once 
more,  take  the  refined  pantheism  of  the  day,  which  evolves  the  world  from 
an  ubiquitous  and  all-pervading  divine  substance,  unconscious  in  material 
forms  but  conscious  in  the  human  mind.  Here  the  existence  of  this  essence 
which  pervades  the  world  extensively,  protensively  and  -substantially,  is 
coolly  assumed,  not  proved.  Philosophy  in  all  its  phases  is  more  or  less 
fanciful  and  dreamy.  But  Hindu  philosophy  is  emphatically,  pre-emin- 
ently so.  It  parades  fictions  as  facts  with  an  audacity  to  which  the  history 
of  modern  philosophy  affords  no  parallel,  or  affords  a parallel  only  in  Her- 
bert Spencer’s  account  of  the  origin  and  growth  of  our  religious  ideas. 
Prof.  Tyndall  points  indeed  to  a primordial  atom,  but  he  does  not  dare 
dwell  on  the  varied  processes  of  evolution  by  which  things  which  do  appear 
have  been  brought  out  of  a thing  which  does  not  appear.  His  Hindu  pro- 
totype fearlessly  goes  many  steps  further  than  he  does,  or  even  dreams  of 
doing — he  supplies  the  missing  links  and  minutely  describes  the  manner  in 
which  order  has  been  evolved  out  of  chaos,  and  beauty  from  ashes.  The 


6 


European  evolutionist  leaves  an  unfilled  gap  between  the  source  of  exis- 
tence and  its  present  varied  forms;  but  the  Indian  evolutionist  draws  copi- 
ously on  his  mind  and  creative  imagination,  and  fills  this  intervening  void 
with  miraculous  success,  as  I shall  have  an  opportunity  of  showing. 

The  Indian  geographer  does  not  travel,  does  not  inquire  and  investigate, 
he  simply  dreams  and  coolly  talks  of  mountains  higher  than  the  sun,  moon 
and  stars,  and  enlarges  on  oceans  of  milk  and  oceans  of  clarified  butter. 
The  Indian  chronologist  does  not  study  antiquities,  does  not  examine  coins 
and  monumental  engravings— he  simply  dreams  and  talks  of  ages  and 
periods  or  history  scarcely  shorter  than  those  with  which  geology  is  render- 
ing us  familiar.  And  so  the  Indian  philosopher  dreams  an  1 presents  his 
night-visions  and  day-dreams,  as  truths  of  cosmogony  and  facts  of  theology. 
Indian  philosophy  is  of  a piece  with  Indian  geography  and  Indian  chro- 
nology; and  its  characteristic  dreaminess  indicates  one  feature  of  its  local 
idiosyncrasy. 

The  intense  religiousness  of  Indian  philosophy  is  the  second  and  last  ele- 
ment of  its  local  idiosyncrasy.  In  elegance  of  diction  and  gracefulness  of  im- 
agery, our  national  poetry  is  far  behind  that  of  ancient  Greece  or  even  Rome, 
but  in  the  intensity  of  the  religious  feeling  by  which  it  is  animated,  it  is  far 
ahead  of  the  poetry  of  any  other  nation  on  the  surface  of  the  globe.  Indian 
philosophy  partakes  of  the  religious  fervor  and  enthusiasm  of  Indian  poetry. 
The  two  questions  that  it  proposes  to  settle  are  indications  of  its  religious 
character.  These  are— what  is  the  origin  of  existence,  and  what  is  the  way 
of  salvation?  These  two  problems  appear  at  first  sight  radically  different 
from  each  other,  the  one  having  a speculative,  and  the  other  a practical 
significance.  But  as  presented  and  solved  by  Hindu  philosophy,  they  are 
essentially  one  and  the  same  problem.  To  know  the  origin  of  things  is, 
according  to  its  renowned  champions,  to  be  saved.  According,  for  instance, 
to  the  Sankhya  philosophy,  a man  is  saved  only  when  he  knows  the  constit- 
uent elements  of  nature;  while  according  to  the  Vedant,  the  knowledge  that 
all  the  diverse  forms, of  existence  are  but  varied  manifestations  of  one 
entity,  viz.,  God,  is  salvation.  So  the  speculative  questions  propounded  by 
Hindu  philosophy  are  in  reality  religious  questions,  their  object  being  our 
salvation  from  the  evils  of  corporeal  existence.  Now  every  species  of  phil- 
osophy lias  a religious  side,  or  some  speculations  of  a directly  religious 
character  grafted  upon  it;  but  Hindu  philosophy  is  religious  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end.  The  Hindu  washes  religiously,  eats  religiously,  sleeps 
religiously,  and  of  course  philosophizes  religiously. 

It  is  impossible  to  settle  the  appropriate  chronological  questions  as  to 
the  origin  and  growth  of  Indian  schools  of  philosophy,  and  I do  not  wish  to 
bother  you  with  the  varied  speculations  indulged  in  by  oriental  scholars  in 
their  attempts  to  solve  what  will  perhaps  ever  remain  an  unsolvable  prob- 
lem. But  the  fact  that  the  growth  of  Indian  philosophy  synchronizes  with 


that  of  rationalistic  speculation  in  Persia,  China,  and  even  distant  Greece, 
is  too  significant  to  be  passed  over  unnoticed.  Oriential  scholars  are  agreed 
that  about  the  time  when  Buddha  was  giving  a somewhat  practical  and 
humanistic  direction  to  the  dreamy  speculations  of  Indian  philosophy, 
Confucius  was  elaborating  his  sociology  in  China,  Zoroaster  was  feeling  in 
Persia  after  a principal  of  unity  behind  the  apparent  dualism  of  nature,  and 
Pythagoras  was  trying  in  Greece  to  reduce  the  complexity  of  creation  to  a 
primal  elementary  substance.  The  human  mind  seems  to  have  been  roused 
as  if  by  a mighty  external  force,  from  the  dormancy  of  ages,  in  distant 
parts  of  the  globe  at  about  the  same  time,  to  grapple  with  the  problems  of 
existence,  and  to  find  a quiet  resting  place  for  the  aspirations  of  the  human 
heart.  But  alas!  the  attempt  though  made  by  the  greatest  intellects  of  an- 
tiquity, failed.  The  soaring  mind  had  to  recoil  to  its  own  darkness,  and 
the  longing  heart  remained  unsatisfied!  This  failure  of  rationalism  is  a 
pillar  of  salt  which  should  have  led  our  modern  rationalists  to  give  them- 
selves to  speculations  more  profitable  than  those  clustering  around  the 
problems  of  existence;  but  the  warning  has  been  neglected,  and  giant  minds 
have  made  other  attempts,  but  the  results  have  been  new  pillars  of  salt ! 

Hindu  rationalism  developed  about  five  or  six  centuries  before  the  birth 
of  our  Lord,  into  six  distinct  schools  of  philosophy,  called  the  six  Darshans, 
or  views  of  truth.  The  names  of  the  schools  are:  1 — Nyaya,  founded  by 
Gotama;  2 Vaiseshika,  by  Kanad;  3-  Sankhya,  by  Kapila;  4 — Yoga,  by 
Patangali;  f>  Mimansa,  by  Jaimani;  6 — Yedant,  by  Badarayana  or  Yyasa. 
These  six  schools  of  philosophy  go  in  pairs,  and  may  properly  be  made  to 
shrink  into  three  distinct  and  separate  schools  of  thought.  The  Nyaya,  for 
instance,  and  the  Vaiseshika,  are,  properly  speaking,  two  branches  of  one 
and  the  same  school  of  philosophy,  rather  than  two  distinct  schools;  and 
this  may  be  predicated  of  Sankhya  and  Yoga  as  well  as  of  Mimansa  and 
Yedant.  The  principles  of  these  systems  are  embodied  in  aphorisms  or 
Sutras,  which,  being  brief  and  sententious,  are  as  a rule  susceptible  of  vari- 
ous interpretations,  and  which  often  throw  the  apple  of  discord  among  the 
learned  in  Europe  as  well  as  in  India.  There  is  associated  with  these  sys- 
tems a good  deal  of  matter  which  is,  properly  speaking,  not  philosophical, 
and  which  therefore  must  be  thrown  into  the  background  in  all  attempts 
like  the  present  to  set  forth  the  salient  features  of  Hindu  philosophy.  The 
systems  called  logical,  viz.:  Nyaya  andYaiseshika,  embody  elaborate  disserta- 
tions on  logic,  and  have  only  a vein  of  philosophic  thought  underlying 
their  net-work  of  definitions,  categories  and  syllogisms.  The  Yoga  philos- 
ophy is  merely  a tissue  of  the  varied  stratagems  and  manceuvers  resorted  to 
by  Indian  ascetics  to  keep  their  restless  thought  fixed  on  one  subject,  while 
the  Mimansa,  as  its  uame  implies,  is  a commentary  on,  and  a vindication  of 
the  ritualistic  portions  of  Yedas.  Barring  this  large  measure  of  superflu- 
ous and  irrelevant  matter,  we  have  three  distinct  lines  of  thought  or  specu- 


8 


lation  interweaving  themselves  with  and  forming  the  groundwork  of  Hindu 
philosophy.  These  are:  1st,  Trialism;  2d,  Dualism;  and  3d,  Monism.  Under 
these  heads  Hindu  philosophy  will  be  treated  of  in  the  following  para- 
graphs, though  the  order  in  which  they  appear  may  not  be  pronounced 
chronologically  established. 

x.  TEIALISM. 

1.  Trialism  is  a phase  of  philosophic  speculation,  of  which  European 
and  American  philosophers  do  not  seem  to  possess  much  knowledge,  and 
for  which  they  do  not,  even  when  made  acquainted  with  it,  discover  any 
predilection.  But  trialism  is  ineft'aceably  inscribed  on  the  banner  unfurled 
by  the  schools  of  Indian  philosophy,  called  Logical,  Nyaya  and  Yaiseshika. 
These  ^schools  plainly  and  unequivocally  affirm  the  existence  of  three 
co-eternal  and  co-existent  substances  or  entities.  They  affirm  the  pre-exis- 
tence or  eternity  of  matter  in  the  shape  of  invisible  and  intangible  atoms. 
They  affirm  the  pre-extisence  or  eternity  of  the  human  soul  or  souls  called 
Jivatman,  and  they  affirm  the  pre-existence  or  eternity  of  God  called  Para- 
matman,  or  the  Great  Soul.  This  system  may  therefore  be  justly  called 
trialism  in  contra-distinction  to  dualism,  which  admits  the  existence  of  two 
co-eternal  and  co-existent  principles,  and  monism  which  admits  the  eternal 
existence  of  only  one  substance. 

2.  The  lines  of  theological  speculation,  in  which  the  Hindu  mind  loves 
to  indulge,  render  the  above-mentioned  affirmations  absolutely  necessary 
The  idea  of  God  as  Creator  bringing  the  world  out  of  nothing,  and  that  of 
God  as  architect  bringing  order  and  beauty  out  of  a chaotic  mass  of  matter, 
are  alike  inconsistent  with  Hindu  logic,  and  repugnant  to  Hindu  feeling. 
God  cannot,  reasons  the  Hindu  philosepher,  create  without  having  a desire 
to  create.  Now  a desire,  whatever  may  be  its  object,  is  a weakness  and 
source  of  misery.  Hindu  philosophy  sets  it  down  as  an  axiom  that  all 
desires,  good,  or  bad,  are  fountains  of  distress  and  lead,  in  the  case  of  a 
rational  creature  or  man,  to  acts  which  become  so  many  chains  fitted  to 
enthrall  and  vex  the  tranquil  spirit.  Emancipation  from  desire,  and  conse- 
quently from  all  acts,  good  or  bad,  is  the  great  aim  of  piety  and  godliness. 
Desire  being  invariably  a source  of  mental  distress  and  agony,  and  of  spir- 
itual enthrallment  and  vexation,  to  attribute  it  to  God  is  the  very  height  of 
blasphemy.  And  as  creation  is  an  impossibility  without  a pre-existent 
desire,  God  cannot  create  without  neutralizing  his  Godhead.  Then  again: 
impufe  matter  could  not  have  proceeded  from  a pure  spirit  like  God;  and 
as  God  could  not  possibly  have  created  matter,  its  pre-existence  must  be 
accepted  as  an  indisputable  truth  or  axiom.  But  what  renders  the  assumed 
'eternity  of  the  human  soul  a necessity?  The  Hindus  unanimously  main- 

. tain  the  principle  that  matter  is  essentially  impure,  and  that  the  soul  is 
essentially  pure.  Matter,  being  impure,  could  not  possibly  have  sprung 
from  the  pure  soul,  nor  the  pure  soul  from  impure  matter.  Nor  could  the 


soul  have  been  created  iu  the  Christian  sense  of  the  term.  1 lie  maxim,  “Ex 
nihilo  nihil  fit,”  from  nothing  nothing  comes  (navas  tuno  vastusidhi)  is  the 
fundamental  and  universally  accepted  principle  of  Hindu  philosophy.  As 
the  human  soul  could  not  have  sprung  from  impure  matter,  and  could  not, 
moreover  have  been  created,  its  pre-existence  or  eternity  must  also  be 
accepted  as  an  indisputable  truth  or  axiom.  The  assumption  of  the  exis- 
tence of  three  co-eternal  or  co-existent  principles  is  therefore  demanded  by 
what  may  be  called  the  platform  of  Hindu  theology. 

3.  Of  this  triad  of  co-eternal  and  co-existent  principles  or  entities,  matter 
is  the  most  active.  It  exists  in  the  shape  of  eternal,  uncaused,  invisible 
and  intangible  atoms.  These  combine  into  molecules,  three  of  them  form- 
ing a compound  which  is  visible  just  as  a mote  iu  a sunbeam.  The  mole- 
citles  or  compound  particles,  by  a ceaseless  process  of  integration  and  disin- 
tegration two  well-known  Spencerian  words — produce  the  world  and  all  its 
beauty  of  life  and  organization.  Thus  far  their  work  is  unexceptionable. 
They,  however,  do  a great  deal  of  mischief.  They  bring  the  soul  into  an  un- 
natural association  with  the  mind  (manas),  which  is  the  eleventh  organ  of 
the  soul,  called  the  internal  organ,  but  which  is  no  part  of  it.  By  effecting 
this  unnatural  union,  they  breed  in  the  soul  desire  and  aversion,  lead  it  to 
acts  good  or  bad,  hurry  it  through  varied  forms  of  transmigration,  and 
make  it  miserable  and  unhappy  till  its  emancipation  is  secured  by  penance 
and  meditation. 

4.  The  Hindu  theory  of  sin  and  salvation  ought  here  to  be  clearly  set 
forth  to  render  the  varied  principles  of  Hindu  philosophy  intelligible.  The 
Hindus  look  upon  ignorance  as  the  source  of  all  misery,  and  transmigration 
as  the  calamity  from  which  deliverance  is  devoutly  and  eagerly  to  be 
sought.  Ignorance  leads  the  soul  to  desire  happiness  and  shrink  from 
pain.  To  gratify  its  desire  for  happiness  as  well  as  to  avoid  pain,  it  does 
work  which  appears  to  it  good.  But  these  only  prolong  the  chain  of 
transmigration  or  births  and  deaths  before  it.  It  must  reap  the  reward  of 
its  good  deeds  in  another  and  brighter  state  of  existence,  but  in  this  state 
it  is  once  more  tempted  to  desire  happiness  and  to  do  good,  and  thereby  pro- 
long its  existence  in  impure  bodies.  It  needs  emancipation  from  desire, 
and  the  works  that  follow,  in  order  to  be  free  from  the  misery  of  births  and 
deaths.  True  knowledge  enables  it  to  see  its  necessities  clearly,  to  avoid 
desire  and  works,  and  so  to  mitigate  and  finally  annihilate  the  evil  of  trans- 
migrations. Ignorance  prolongs  the  chain  of  births  and  deaths,  while  knowl- 
edge leading  to  an  extinction  of  desire,  and  a cessation  of  works,  secures 
emancipation  from  it.  Now  you  will  clearly  see  the  mischief  done  by  these 
active,  energetic,  meddlesome  and  turbulent  atoms.  They  bring  the 
tranquil  soul  into  association  with  the  organ  which  makes  it  miserable,  as 
well  as  with  impure  matter.  They  lead  it  to  desire  happiness  ancP  shrink 
from  pain,  drive  it  to  works  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  one  and  avoid- 


10 


ing  the  other;  conduct  it  to  stages  of  existence  where  those  acts  are  re- 
warded and  punished,  prolong  its  series  of  births  and  deaths,  and  thereby 
hinder  its  emancipation  from  vexation  and  trouble. 

5.  The  question  may  be  raised — whence  do  these  atoms  derive  their  cease- 
less activity,  their  plastic  power  and  their  creative  energy?  God  is  thor- 
oughly quiescent  and  he  cannot  create  or  build  ; and  he  has,  moreover,  no 
energy  to  impart.  The  atoms  could  not  have  derived  their  energy  and  plas- 
tic power  from  Him.  The  human  soul  derives  its  activity  from  the  atoms, 
not  the  atoms  from  it.  Whence,  then,  do  the  atoms  derive  their  wonderful 
activity  and  their  creative  and  organizing  power  and  skill?  According  to 
some  expounders  of  Hindu  philosophy  there  is  an  unseen  force  behind  the 
scene.  But  this  force  is  essentially  different  from  that  to  which  Herbert 
Spencer  traces  creation,  inasmuch  as  it  is  knowable.  It  is  Karma,  the 
aggregate  action  of  a previous  state  of  existence.  The  acts  done  in  one 
state  of  existence  do  not  die;  they  live  in  a corporate  capacity,  and  through 
atoms  create  a world  of  retribution,  wherein  they  are  either  rewarded  or 
punished.  Here  is  the  God  of  Buddhism,  the  Karma  who,  when  the  soul  is 
annihilated,  recreates  it  to  reap  the  reward  or  punishment  of  its  deeds  done 
in  the  body  it  has  cast  off. 

6.  The  question  rises,  What  supports  the  elephant  which  supports  the 
earth?  Trace  this  previous  state  of  existence  represented  by  this  terrible 
power,  Karma,  backwards,  and  you  come  to  a state  of  existence,  which  was 
the  first.  How  came  atoms  to  be  powerful,  then?  The  Indian  Philosopher 
rarely  faces  the  horns  of  this  dilemma,  or  when  he  does  so,  he  escapes  them 
by  affirming  an  eternal  series  of  existence. 

7.  Before  I close  this  portion  of  our  subject,  let  me  ask  you  to  observe 
that  there  is  a superfluous  entity  in  this  triad  of  substances,  and  that 
entity  is  God.  The  atoms  are  all  activity  and  energy,  if  not  life  and 
vitality;  they  combine  and  cohere,  they  integrate  and  disintegrate,  they  cre- 
ate and  destroy.  The  human  soul  is  certainly  quiescent,  but  in  certain  con- 
ditions it  displays  a great  deal  of  activity.  God  is  the  only  member  of  this 
triumvirate  of  entitities  who  does  not  show  the  slightest  activity  imder  any 
circumstances  or  in  any  condition.  He  is  quiescent,  still  as  a tranquil  lake, 
perfectly  unconscious,  incapable  of  thought  and  desire,  without  power  of 

I choice  and  action,  an  unchangeable,  eternal,  inconceivable,  frightful 
NOTHING! 

II.  DUALISM. 

1.  Dualism  is  a phase  of  thought  with  which  the  champions  of  modern 
philosophy  are  thoroughly  familiar.  But  the  dualism  in  vogue  amongst 
them  is  radically  and  essentially  different  from  that  taught  in  the  schools 
of  Indian  philosophy,  called  synthetic,  in  contradistinction  to  the  logical 
schools  called  from  their  method  of  investigation,  analytical.  These  schools 
are  Sankhya  and  Yoga,  and  the  dualism  they  propound  is  atheistic.  They 


11 


do  not,  like  the  dualism  sometimes  preached  in  these  days,  admit  the  ex- 
istence of  God  and  matter,  and  represent  the  former  as  engaged  in  the 
capacity  of  a great  architect  in  building  up  the  latter  into  a beautiful  world. 
They  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  God,  either  as  creator  or  as  archi- 
tect. They  affirm  the  pre-existence  or  eternity  of  matter,  and  the  pre-exis- 
tence or  eternity  of  the  human  soul. 

The  transition  from  the  three  principles  of  the  analytical  to  the  two  of 
the  synthetic  schools  is  natural  and  easy.  In  the  triumvirate  of  princi- 
ples brought  forward  by  the  logical  schools  we  saw  a superfluous  and  use- 
less entity,  a God  perfectly  quiescent  and  inactive.  This  dispensable  phan- 
tom has  been  cast  overboard  by  the  synthetic  schools,  while  his  two  com- 
panions, matter  and  the  human  soul,  have  been  retained. 

2.  We  may  remark,  by  the  way,  that  the  tendency  of  philosophy  out  of  I n- 
dia  is  of  a piece  with  its  tendency  in  India.  Philosophy  lias  everywhere 
pushed  forward  its  speculations  to  the  detriment  of  the  fundamental  article 
of  the  Christian  faith,  our  belief  in  the  existence  of  a personal  and  voluntary 
creator  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  It  has  exalted  man  indeed,  but  at  the 
expense  of  God.  It  has  shorn  the  creator,  now  of  his  omniscience,  then  of  his 
omnipotence,  and  anon  of  his  personality  ; and  it  has  in  all  countries  shown 
a tendency  to  leave  him  where  the  Hindu  philosopher  leaves  him,  a glorious 
non-being,  standing  unconscious  and  inactive,  side  by  side  with  creative 
matter  and  thinking  mind. 

B.  But  to  return.  Sankliya  philosophy  propagates  belief  in  the  pre- 
existence or  eternity  of  matter,  and  the  human  soul  or  souls.  Matter,  ac- 
cording to  it,  originally  existed  not  in  the  shape  of  invisible  and  intangible 
atoms,  but  in  that  of  primordial,  self-evolving  principle  called  “Prakrit,”  or 
that  which  evolves  or  produces.  The  Sankhya  philosopher  believes  in  a 
succession  of  causes,  but  this  succession  is  not  endless,  it  has  a starting 
point,  which  is  “Prakrit,”  called  also  “Tattua,”  the  primal  source  of  exist- 
ence in  all  its  diversified  forms. 

This  primordial  substance  is  elementary  indeed,  but  it  consists  of  three 
quasi-material  and  quasi-spiritual  qualities,  called  gunas,  held  in  perfect 
equipoise.  These  qualities  are  Satta,  Rajas  and  Tamas,  which  being  in- 
terpreted are  goodness  and  purity,  passion  and  activity,  and  darkness  or 
ignorance.  These  form  the  triad  of  Sankhya  philosophy,  and  in  various 
proportions  they  are  found  in  all  material  objects  and  forms  of  life  notice- 
able in  this  world.  They  are  held  in  perfect  equilibrium  only  in  the  primal 
substance  Prakrit,  but  this  balance  is  disturbed  in  other  substances  and 
forms  of  life;  and  these  become  exalted,  mediocre  and  degenerated  according 
as  the  first,  second  or  third  of  these  ubiquitous  principles  prevails  in  them. 
Man  for  instance  becomes  divine  when  the  first  quality,  goodness,  pre- 
ponderates in  him  ; human  when  the  second,  activity,  gets  the  upper  hand; 
and  positively  brutalized  when  the  third,  ignorance,  is  prevalent. 


12 


4.  The  Sankhya  philosophy  not  merely  sets  forth  a theory  of  evolution, 
but  shows  how  it  has  worked.  The  different  principles  and  objects  which 
sprung  out  of  Prakrit  are  stated  in  the  order  in  which  they  came  out.  From 
Prakrit  sprung  Buddhi  or  intelligence,  which  produced  out  of  its  substance 
Ahankara  or  egoism  or  self-consciousness,  the  principle  which  leads  man  to 
call  himself  I,  and  thereby  separate  himself  from  others,  from  thou,  she  or 
it.  This  I-maker,  or  egoism,  is,  properly  speaking,  the  creator  of  the  world 
and  its  activity  is  seen  in  its  preservation.  Five  subtle  elements  called 
Tanmatras  issue  from  it  and  help  it  in  the  work  of  creation  it  accomplishes. 
These  are  nondescript  principles  somewhat  like  the  constituent  elements  of 
Prakrit,  quasi-material  and  quasi-spiritual.  They  give  birth  to  the  five 
grosser  elements,  earth,  water,  fire,  air  and  ether.  Then  come  the  five 
organs  of  knowledge,  Buddheidryani,  the  eye,  the  nose,  the  ear,  the  tongue 
and  the  skin ; and  these  are  followed  by  the  five  organs  of  action 
Karmeindryani,  the  larynx,  hand,  foot,  excretory  organ  and  the  organ  of 
generation.  The  eleventh  organ  or  the  internal  organ,  the  mind  (manas), 
which  when  associated  with  the  human  soul  makes  it  capable  of  perception, 
thought  and  volition,  is  the  last  out-come.  These  twenty-four  elements  are 
the  constitutent  elements  of  the  whole  creation,  and  the  knowledge  that 
they  are  such  is  salvation.  As  soon  as  the  soul  knows  that  its  own  essence 
is  different  from  that  of  the  world,  and  that  these  twenty-four  elements  are 
the  life  of  creation,  but  not  its  life,  it  is  saved. 

These  twenty-four  principles  are  very  unselfish  ; they  create  the  world 
not  for  their  own  advantage,  but  for  the  advantage  of  Purusha,  or  the  soul, 
whose  emancipation  from  the  thraldom  of  ignorance  is  the  object  of  all  the 
activity  they  display.  But  the  charge  we  have  brought  against  the  atoms 
of  the  logical  schools  may  be  justly  preferred  against  them.  They  first  en- 
slave the  soul  and  then  liberate  it.  They  bring  it  into  unnatural  association 
with  the  mind,  and  then  through  the  path  of  ignorance,  desire  and  works, 
leads  it  to  enthralment.  But  when  it  is  enthralled,  they,  in  mercy,  open  its 
eyes  and  emancipate  it  by  giving  it  right  knowledge  about  themselves,  their 
relations  to  the  world,  and  their  essential  differences  from  it. 

3.  MONISM. 

1.  The  Vedant,  or  the  essence  of  the  Veda,  sometimes  called  the  Uttra 
Unmansa,  or  the  last  decision  of  Indian  philosophy,  is  Monism.  This  system 
repudiates  the  dualism  of  the  synthetic  schools  and  casts  overboard  its  cre- 
ative world-producing  primordial  substance  (Prakrit),  and  its  quiescent 
Purusha,  or  human  soul.  It  also  repudiates  two  elements  of  the  trialism  of 
the  analytical  schools;  the  energetic  and  plastic  atoms,  and  the  inactive  and 
quiescent  human  soul.  It  retains  the  third  and  most  superfluous  element 
of  Indian  trialism,  God,  and  evolves  creation  with  all  its  wonders  out  of 
his  essence.  Its  watch-word  is,  non-dualism,  ekamebaditiam,  one  without 


13 


a second.  Its  creed  is  simple  and  compressed  in  the  following  line,  so  often 
quoted  by  earnest  men  in  India;  “Brahm  satyam  jagan  mithya,  jiva  Brali- 
maiva  napara,  Brahm,”  or  God  is  true,  the  world  is  a lie,  the  soul  is  God 
and  not  anything  else. 

2.  God  is  represented  in  this  system  as  the  material  as  well  as  the  effi- 
cient cause  of  the  universe.  One  of  the  most  important  questions  settled 
by  this  school  is:  Does  the  material  world  really  exist?  The  Vedantic  phil- 
osopher says  in  reply  to  this  question  that  it  exists  practically,  not  really. 
The  sort  of  existence  accorded  it  is  called  Byavarick,  or  practical,  in  con- 
tradistinction to  Paramarthic,  or  real.  Here  Is,  however,  a distinction 
without  a difference, — the  sort  of  existence  accorded  to  the  material  world 
being  equal  in  every  respect  to  non-existence.  We  assume  its  existence  for 
the  purpose  of  carrying  on  the  business  of  life,  but  in  reality  the  world  does 
not  exist,  any  more  than  the  magnificent  castles  we  build  in  the  air  when 
we  have  nothing  to  do.  It  is  ignorance  or  illusion  that  leads  us  to  look 
upon  it  as  real,  not  phenomenal  or  imaginary.  Its  unreality  the  Vedantist 
demonstrates  by  means  of  apt  similitudes.  You  enter  a dark  room,  he 
says,  and  see  a rope  stretched  before  your  dim  eyes,  mistake  it  for  a serpent 
and  flee  from  it.  What  do  you  see?  A serpent?  No — that  is  a creation  of 
your  fear-stricken  imagination.  The  thing  you  see  is  the  rope — that  is  the 
real,  and  the  serpeut  tin5  phenomenal;  that  is  true,  and  the  serpent  is  false. 
So,  argues  the  Pandit,  the  material  objects  .you  see  are  but  phenomena,  but 
the  noumenon  or  the  reality  beneath  them  is  God.  The  material  objects 
you  see  are  false,  while  God,  of  whose  existence  they  are,  to  adopt  a well- 
known  expression  of  Spinoza,  so  many  modes,  is  true. 

2.  Again,  says  the  Pandit,  you  enter  a dark  room,  and  seeing  a piece  of 
nacrine  silver,  or  mother-of-pearl,  mistake  it  for  genuine  silver.  Is  it  real 
silver  that  you  see?  No.  That  is  a creation  of  your  ignorance-homy! 
imaginatipn.  The  nacrine  silver  is  the  substance  and  the  genuine  silver  is 
the  false  impression.  So  the  objects  you  see  convey  false  impressions  to 
your  mind,  the  substratum  of  each  and  all  of  them  being  God. 

3.  This  will  further  appear  when  we  look  at  the  relation  which  God  bears 
to  the  world,  and  vice  versa. 

4.  What  relation  does  God  bear  to  the  physical  world?  This  is  illustra- 
ted by  a number  of  significant  and  unmistakable  images.  What  yam  is  to 
cloth,  that  God  is  to  the  world.  As  yam  is  the  material  out  of  which  the 
cloth  is  made,  so  is  God  the  substance  out  of  which  the  world  is  made. 
Again,  what  clay  is  to  a jar,  or  gold  to  a bracelet,  that  God  is  to  the  world. 
As  a jar  is  made  out  of  clay  or  as  a bracelet  is  made  of  gold,  so  is  the 
world  made  of  divine  essence!  Let  us  now  reverse  the  picture  and  see 
the  relation  the  objects  of  nature  bear  to  God.  This  is  also  illustrated  by 
appropriate  images.  What  the  waves  are  to  the  ocean,  what  the  sparks  are 
to  the  fire,  what  the  hair  and  nails  are  to  the  body,  what  the  spider’s  web  is 


14 


to  the  spider,  that  the  material  or  so-called  materal  objects  around  us 
are  to  God.  These  illusive  objects  have  all  issued  out  of  the  all-pre- 
vading  divine  substance  which  only  exists. 

5.  Goes  the  Vedantist  accept  all  the  conclusions  that  can  legitimately  be 
deduced  from  his  theory  of  non-dualism?  Yes,  he  does  so  most  unhesita- 
tingly, most  unfaulteringly.  He  believes  that  nothing  exists  but  God;  and 
as  a deduction  he  fearlessly  admits  that  whatever  is  done  in  the  world  is 
done  by  God.  Is  adultry  committed?  God  is  the  perpetrator.  Is  a theft 
committed?  God  is  the  thief.  Are  dark  deeds  done  in  the  darkest  hours  of 
the  night?  They  ought  to  be  traced  to  God.  The  Hindu  never  shrinks 
from  the  responsibility  of  accepting  these  monstrous  propositions,  but  he 
has  an  ingenious  way  of  divesting  them  of  their  apparently  absurd  and  blas- 
phemous character.  He  believes  that  all  human  actions  are  illusions  as 
well  as  the  objects  of  nature.  All  conditions  of  life,  all  distinctions,  moral 
and  social,  all  states  of  consciousness,  our  thoughts,  volitions  and  feelings, 
are  mere  illusions. 

But  who  is  the  deceiver?  What  power  has  brought  the  soul  under  sub- 
jection to  ignorance?  By  whom  or  by  what  has  the  tranquil  spirit  within  us, 
Brahm  himself,  been  made  a victim  of  illusion?  The  power  that  binds 
the  soul  with  the  fetters  of  ignorance  or  illusion  is  Maya,  the  power  of 
illusion.  This  phantom  issued  from  Brahm  himself  when  the  Deity  had,  in 
opposition  to  every  approved  principle  of  Hindu  philosophy,  a desire  to 
create.  So  the  conclusion  to  which  this  undeservedly  lauded  system  of  phi- 
losophy brings  us  is  this : We  are  deceived  as  to  the  reality  of  the  objects 

around  us,  and  as  to  our  own  distinctive  existence,  and  God  Himself  is  the 
deceiver. 

A word  about  the  God  who  is  the  only  Entity  and  the  only  agent  in  the 
wprld,  and  we  shall  have  completed  our  imperfect  sketch  of  Hindu  philoso- 
phy. What  is  said  about  the  Brahm,  out  of  whose  divine  essence  creation 
has  been  evolved  with  all  its  glories?  He  is  called  “Saccljitananda,”  which 
means  existence,  intelligence  and  happiness.  Here  is  the  trinity  of  the 
Vedant  philosophy,  as  satta,  rajas  and  tamasform  the  trinity  of  theSankhva 
philosophy. 

And  if  the  Vedantic  portraiture  of  God  had  ended  here  we  might  have 
had  a very  sublime  conception  of  Him  left  in  our  minds  a conception  lofty 
enough  to  justify  the  comparison  instituted  between  the  Vedantic  trinity 
and  the  adorable  Trinity  of  the  Bible,  the  Father  representing  existence, 
the  Son,  knowledge,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  happiness.  But  in  reality  this 
sublimely  simple  idea  of  God  is  neutralized  by  what  is  said  in  Vedantic 
philosohhy  in  explanation  and  expansion  of  it.  Brahm  is  existence  and  ex- 
istence only.  He  is  intelligence  without  knowledge,  or  happy  without  feel- 
ing or  emotion.  He  is  in  reality  the  tranqil  spirit  of  the  logical  schools, 
unconscious  and  quiescent,  incapable  of  thought,  volition  and  feeling,  hang- 


15 


in-?  between  life  .mil  death, an  incomprehensible  and unknowably nonentity! 
What  the  Vedantist  save  about  God  brings  us  by  an  indisputable  line  of 
reasoning  to  the  well-known  paradox,  Being  Non-Being!  Nor  is  Brahm 
of  the  Upanisliads  materially  different  from  the  primordial  form  of  the 
synthetic  schools,  l’rakrit,  the  original  source  of  existence.  He  is  indeed 
said  to  be  “nirguna,"  or  without  the  slighest  touch  of  the  three  principles, 
“satta,”  “rajas,”  and  “tamas,”  while  Prakrit  is  a compound  of  these  held  in 
state  of  equilibrium  But  these  are  also  subtle,  incomprehensible  nothings, 
and  so  when  superfluities  are  laid  aside  and  essentials  are  looked  into,  the 
God  of  the  Upanisliads  is  the  same,  every-active,  plastic,  creative,  particle  of 
matter,  which  is  the  starting-point  of  existence  in  Sankhya  philosophy.  In 
Indian  schools  as  elsewhere,  materialism  and  pantheism,  the  antipodes  of 
each  other  at  first  sight,  are  but  tw'o  phases  of  one  and  the  same  thing, 
atheism ! 

7.  Salvation,  according  to  this,  as  all  other  systems  of  Indian  philoso- 
phy, proceeds  from  right  knowledge.  Man  is  an  ignorance-bound  or  illusion- 
victimized  creature,  and  he  makes  himself  miserable  by  his  egoism,  by  re- 
garding himself  as  distinct  from  God  and  his  fellow  creatures. 

I,  mine,  me,  this  is  his  perpetual  cry,  and  this  is  the  source  of  his  misery 
and  distress.  Let  the  spell  be  broken,  lei  him  recognize  the  great  principle 
of  non-dualism  (gdaitya)  and  let  him  be  brought  where  he  can  unhesitating- 
ly say:  “Aliang  Brahm,”  I am  Brahm,  and  he  is  saved.  The  process  is  not 
an  easy  one.  Years  of  mortification  and  penance  are  needed  to  emancipate 
him  from  the  power  of  ignorance,  and  bring  him  to  right  knowledge;  but 
when  once  he  has  attained  it,  he  is  absorbed  in  the  Deity,  as  a drop  of 
water  is  mingled  with  the  sea.  Salvation  then  is  absorption  or  annihilation 
of  personal  existence  in  the  all-prevading  divine  substance  of  which  man  is 
but  a particle. 

8.  This  system  has  been  called  in  a very  appropriate  sense,  the  last  de- 
cision. It  may,  however,  be  called  the  first  and  last  decision  of  Indian  phil- 
osophy. It  underlies  and  vitalizes  almost  every  phase  of  thought  that  has 
flourished  under  the  banner  of  religious  philosophy  in  India.  It  is  found  in 
an  embryonic  state  in  the  Rig  Veda,  the  oldest  religious  book  of  the  Hindus, 
and  it  is  the  substratum  of  the  gorgeous  ritualism  of  the  Brahmans.  It  ap- 
pears in  mature  manhood  in  the  Upanishads  and  the  Darshans,  and  it  gives 
life  to  the  form  of  religion  that  stands  out  in  bold  relief  from  the  institutes 
of  our  national  legislator,  Manu,  the  ideas  embedded  in  our  national  epics, 
the  Ramayuna  and  the  Mahavarat,  the  legendary  tales  of  the  Purans,  and 
even  the  impurities  and  obscenities  of  the  Tantras,  the  filthiest  books  associa- 
ted with  the  religion  of  the  Hindus.  Nay,  it  has  given  color  and  complexion 
and  life  and  energy  to  all  the  forms  of  heresy  and  rationalistic  unbelief 
that  have  appeared  in  our  country  since  the  arch  of  its  sacred  literature  was 
completed,  several  centuries  ago.  And  to-day  it  moulds  religious  thought 


16 


from  one  end  of  Hindustan  to  the  other.  It  has  a strange  fascination  for 
the  Hindu  mind,  and  its  influence  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Hinduism  is 
omnipotent.  The  property  of  a few  skeptical  thinkers  in  America  and 
Europe,  Pantheism  is  the  common  property  of  the  Hindu  nation,  revelling 
unchecked,  both  in  the  palaces  of  the  rich  and  the  cottages  of  the  poor, 
both  in  seats  of  learning  and  in  abodes  of  ignorance,  both  in  the  cells  of 
ascetic  self-denial  and  in  the  houses  of  libertine  self-indulgence.  A nation 
of  pantheists  is'at  first  sight  a phenomenon  that  can  never  be  realized  in  this 
world,  but  it  has  been  realized  in  India;  and  a nation  of  pantheists  is  a fact! 

9.  Pantheism  is  exercising  a fascinating  influence  over  many  a g lfted 
and  many  a susceptible  mind  in  Christendom,  and  the  reason  is  obvious. 
Pantheism  has  a grand  truth  embedded  in  it,  and  that  is  the 
doctrine  of  the  immanence  of  God  in  the  world.  That  God  is  in  every  ma- 
terial object  we  see,  that  He  in  a sense  thunders  in  the  clouds,  howls  in 
the  tempest,  whistles  in  the  wind,  and  warbles  in  the  little  rivulet,  is  an 
undeniable  fact.  God  is  immanent  in  nature  as  well  as  immanent  in  the 
human  soul.  And  this  doctrine  of  His  immanence  logically  unfolded,  de- 
velopes,  I am  willing  to  admit,  into  Pantheism.  I do  not  see,  and  do  not 
pretend  to  be  able  to  explain  how  this  doctrine  consists  with  that  of  the 
divine  transcendence  above  the  world,  or  how  God  is  at  one  and  the  same 
time  intramundane  and  extramundane.  But  I accept  these  contraries  or 
truths  which  appear  contradictions  to  our  limited  mental  faculties.  T do 
not  see  how  the  sovereignity  of  God  consists  with  human  responsibility, 
but  I accept  these  contraries  because  they  are  in  unison  with  the  voice  of 
intuition  and  revelation.  I do  not  see  how  I am  to  work  as  if  everything 
depended  upon  myself,  and  to  trust  as  if  everything  depended  upon  God. 
But  I accept  these  contradictions  for  the  same  reason.  In  the  domain 
of  science,  as  well  as  in  the  region  of  philosophy  and  theology,  we  are 
compelled  on  account  of  our  short-sightedness  to  accept  what  Kant  calls 
antinomies,  or  truths  which  are  contraries  to  us,  but  consistent  truths  to 
minds  endowed  with  faculties  superior  to  ours.  And  it  is  because  philoso- 
phers and  theologians  refuse  to  accept  them  and  try  to  build  up  one-sided 
system  with  logical  consistency,  that  they  plunge  themselve  into  error  and 
propound  theories  derogatary,  sometimes  to  man,  but  more  frequently  to 
God  Himself. 


LECTURE  1 1. 


JFflH  RBIiIQI0U3  IDEAS  ®P  THE  HINDD3. 


The  impressions  left  on  my  mind  by  what  I have  seen  in  your  country  are 
verv  favorable  indeed;  and  no  one  is  more  willing  than  lam  to  admit  that  you 
are,  as  a nation,  superior  to  us  in  all  that  constitutes  national  greatness.  In 
industry  and  enterprise,  in  ingenuity  and  skill,  in  intellectual  advancement 
and  moral  excellence,  you  are  far  ahead  of  us.  In  one  respect,  however,  we 
beat  you;  that  is,  as  regards  the  antiquity  of  our  race.  A Jew  and  an  Eng- 
ishman  were  looking  at  a statue  of  Julius  C;esar,  when  the  Englishman 
almost  involuntarily  exclaimed:  “How  sad  it  is  to  think  that  our  fore- 

fathers were  sunk  in  barbarism  when  Julius  Caesar  lived  and  flourished!” 
“Ouu  forefathers! ” exclaimed  the  offended  Jew,  “ Pray  speak  of  your  own, 
who  were  doubtless  barbarous  enough;  my  forefathers  were  singing  praises 
unto  the  one  living  and  true  Clod,  centuries  before  Julius  Caesar  was  bom.” 
Yes,  centuries  before  Julius  Caesar  was  born,  centuries  before  Lycurgus 
laid  the  foundation  of  Spartan  greatness,  centuries  before  Solon  founded 
the  beautiful  constitution  of  Athens,  centuries  before  even  the  siege  im- 
mortalized by  Homer,  Miriam  raised  that  song  of  triumph  to  Him,  who  is 
glorious  in  holiness,  fearful  in  praises,  perpetually  doing  wonders.  The 
pedigree  of  the  Hindu  nation  may  be  traced  back  to  that  early  date.  About 
the  time  when  Joshua  was  taking  possession  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  the  grand 
old  hymns  of  the  Rig  Veda, the  oldest  and  purest  of  the  religious  books  of  the 
Hindus,  were  chanted  on  the  banks  of  the  Indus.  The  nation  had  even 
then  declined  from  the  path  of  loyalty  to  Cod.  The  form  of  worship  then 
prevalent  in  our  country  was  nature-worship,  that  is,  the  adoration  of  the 
energies  an  1 powers  of  nature.  . This  form  of  worship,  comparatively  pure, 
was  followed  by  an  era  of  elaborate  ritualism,  when  the  substance  of  relig- 
ion was  literally  buried  under  its  forms.  Then  came  an  age  of  rationalis- 
tic development  when  the  varied  phases  of  thought,  that  are  paraded  by 
your  philosophers  as  the  discoveries  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  flourished 
in  India.  Then  was  elaborated  that  system  of  class  legislation  which  is  a 


18 


marvel  of  sacradotal  pride  and  exclusiveness.  Then  came  an  age  of  gross 
idolatry  and  moral  degradation,  and  to-day  there  is  not  an  object  so  mean 
that  a Hindu  will  not  prostrate  himself  before  and  worship  it.  All  objects 
of  nature  are  in  India  objects  of  worship.  The  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  moun- 
tains, forests,  and  rivers,  heroes,  sages,  and  legislators, almost  all  kinds  of  in- 
ferior animals,  dawn  to  the  meanest  reptile,  are  objects  of  worship  in  our 
country.  The  Hindu  nation  has  been  sinking  down  in  the  abyss  of  moral 
rum  with  fearful  rapidity. 

Some  of  your  philosophers  propound  a beautiful  theory  of  prog?ess  in  re- 
ligion and  morals.  According  to  it,  the  original  religion  of  man  was  Fetichism. 
From  Fetichism  man  was  raised  by  the  law  of  self-development  to  the  low- 
er types  of  idolatry,  and  from  these  to  the  higher  forms  of  Polytheism,  from 
which  he  easily  found  his  way  up  to  Monotheism.  And  to-day  he  is  found 
on  the  height  ofthe  religion  of  science,  ready  to  die  exclaiming, -“Oh,  science, 
now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  the 
glorious  positivism  of  the  Nineteenth  Century!  ” Now,  I wish  you  to  ob- 
serve that  this  beautiful  theory  has  not  been  realized  in  India.  In  our 
country,  as  I have  shown,  there  has  been  a retrogression  rather  than  a pro- 
gression, a fall  from  sublimer  to  coarser  ideas  of  God  and  human  duty,  a 
fall  from  Theism  to  Fetichism,  not  a rise  from  Fetichism  to  Theism.  This 
theory  of  progress  has  not  been  realized  in  any  country  on  the  surface  of 
the  globe.  The  fault  of  course  rests  with  the  world,  not  with  the  theory! 

Please  observe  that  Hinduism  is  the  most  omnivorous  religion  the  world 
has  seen.  It  lias  swallowed  up,  and  assimilated  to  its  nature  all  the  phases 
of  speculative  thought  that  have  appeared  in  our  country  during  the  last 
three  thousand  years.  Atheism  and  Theism,  and  all  the  forms  of  belief  in- 
tervening, materialism  and  pantheism  with  all  the  shades  of  thought  com- 
ing between,  have  found  a refuge  within  the  capacious  stomach  of  Hin- 
duism. Buddhism  for  instance,  is  essentially  an  atheistic  system,  but  Hin- 
duism has  managed  to  incorporate  it  into  its  own  essence.  As  this  system 
of  religion  is  being  lionized  in  America,  in  consequence  of  the  charm  thrown 
around  it  by  Arnold’s  “Light  of  Asia”,  I wish  to  make  some  remarks  upon 
it,  though  at  the  risk  of  giving  a rambling  character  to  my  discourse. 

Observe,  in  the  first  place,  that  Buddhism  is  a tissue  of  Plagiarism.  It 
does  not  present  a single  idea  or  doctrine  which  may  be  represented  as  its 
peculiar) property.  Tts  doctrine  of  transmigration  of  souls  is  derived  from 
Hinduism.  Its  God,  Kakma,  or  the  aggregate  action  of  a particular  state 
of  existence  creating  a world  of  retribution,  is  derived  from  one  school  of 
Indian  philosophy;  while  its  idea  of  Nirvan  or  extinction  of  mental  activ- 
ity in  this  life  followed  by  annihilation,  is  derived  from  another.  Every- 
thing connected  with  the  life  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  bears  the  stamp  of 
originality.  His  life  and  character,  His  sayings  and  deeds,  the  manner  and 
matter  of  His  teaching,  His  modes  of  thought,  and  habits  of  life  are  all  orig- 


1!) 


mal;  while  there  is  nothing  original  in  Bitddha.  And  yet  people  have  the 
audacity  to  place  the  Indian  reformer  on  a par  with  the  Saviour  of  man- 
kind ! 

Observe, in  the  second  place, that  Buddhism  is  essentially  an  atheistic  creed. 
Your  Comptism  is  hut  an  improved  edition  cf  enat  nt  Buddhism;  and  its 
Godless  character  is  patent.  And  when  you  scatter  the  flowers  of  poetry  or 
rhetoric  around  Buddhism,  you  ought  to  know  that  you  are  simply  raising  a 
Godless  creed  to  the  skies. 

Observe,  in  the  third  place,  that  the  morality  associated  with  Buddhism 
is  essentially  selfish.  Christian  morality  revolves  around  God.  Christian- 
ity commands  you  not  merely  to  do  good,  but  to  do  good  from  proper 
motives;  that  is,  with  a single  eye  to  the  glory  of  God.  The  object  of  all 
the  good  you  do  is  not  your  deliverance  from  evil,  not  your  aggrandizement, 
not  your  exaltation,  but  the  glorification  of  your  Maker  and  Redeemer. 
Christian  morality,  then,  immolates  self  and  glorifies  God.  The  morality 
taught  by  Buddha  revolves  round  self.  Its  object  is  not  the  glorification  of 
God,  not  the  good  of  mankind,  but  self-deliverance.  The  Buddhist  looks  / 
upon  existence  as  the  greatest  calamity,  and  deliverance  from  it  as  the/ 
greatest  good;  and  he  practices  virtue  only  with  a dew  to  deliver  himself 
from  what  he  considers  the  greatest  evil.  His  morality,  therefore,  is  selfish. 

Buddhism,  though  atheistic,  and  opposed  to  the  caste  system,  has  been 
swallowed  up  by  Hinduism,  and  its  founder  worshipped  as  one  of  the  ten 
incarnations  of  Vishnu.  Hinduism  is  therefore,  not  a unity,  but  a complex- 
ity, not  a system,  but  a mass  of  systems,  not  a symmetrical  theory,  but  a 
regular  farrago  of  jarring  theories.  It  is,  therefore,  difficult  to  present  its 
characteristic  ideas  without  being  betrayed  into  gross  contradictions.  Let 
me,  therefore,  request  that  you  will  not  attribute  any  contradiction  you  may 
observe  in  what  I have  to  say  regarding  the  salient  features  of  Hinduism, 
to  me.  I am  merely  an  ambassador  and  my  person  is  sacred  ! 

1.  The  first  question  to  which  I wish  to  draw  your  attention  is,  what  do 
Hindus  think  of  practical  religion  ? or,  in  other  words,  in  what  does  reli- 
gion consist  according  to  current  ideas  in  India  ? In  India,  as  in  other 
countries,  there  are  two  classes  of  people,  the  learned  few,  and  the  unlearned 
many;  and  these  two  class  give  two  distinct  replies  to  this  question.  Go  to 
the  ignorant  masses,  and  they  will  tell  you  that  religion  consists  in  a series 
of  lifeless  forms  and  meaningless  observances.  The  Hindu  is  the  most  reli- 
gious being  on  the  surface  of  the  globe,  and  whatever  he  does,  he  does  ac- 
cording to  the  prescribed  forms  of  his  religion.  He  gets  up  from  his  bed 
religiously,  he  washes  religiously,  he  dresses  religiously,  he  eats  religiously, 
and  he  sleeps  religiously.  Nay,  he  becomes  sometimes  irreligious  religiously. 
But  his  idea  of  religion  is  confined  within  the  horizon  of  forms  and  cere- 
monies; all  beyond  is  darkness.  Go  to  the  Hindu  philospher.  and  he  will 
tell  you  that  religion  consists  in  a series  of  metaphysical  subtleties.  He 


20 


t 

tries. to  solve  the  great  problems  bf  existence,  and  he  believes  that  his  relig- 
ious welfare  hinges  on  their  solution.  Let  me  illustrate  this  by  a couple  of 
significant  examples.  I visited  a learned  Pandit,  at  a place  called  Sitapore, 
and  endeavored  to  draw  him  into  a religious  conversation.  He  asked  me 
abruptly — “Do  you  know  the  essence  of  God  ?”  I replied — “Sir,  I do  not 
know  the  essence  of  a single  blade  of  grass;  how  can  I know  the  essence  of 
God  ?”  He  impatiently  exclaimed,  “You  do  not  know  the  essence  of  God, 
and  yet  pretend  to  teach  me  ? Go  back  to  your  home,  study,  and  know  the 
essence  of  God,  and  then  you  will  truly  be  a pious  man,  and  a good  religious 
teacher.”  I visited  another  learned  Pandit  at  Lucknow,  my  home,  and  he 
asked  me — “Do  you  know  the  origin  and  end  of  existence,  or  how  nature 
has  proceeded  and  is  to  proceed  ?”  On  my  confessing  my  ignorance,  he 
also  administered  to  me  a similar  reproof.  According  to  the  masses  in  India, 
religion  is  a matter  of  forms;  while  to  the  learned  few  it  is  a matter  of  met- 
aphysical speculation. 

You  can  have  no  idea  of  the  greatness  of  the  revolution  accomplished  in 
the  sphere  of  thought  by  the  Lord  .Tesus  Christ  when  he  said,  “Out  of  the 
heart  proceed  evil  thoughts,”  or  “Verily,  verily,  I say  unto  thee,  except  a 
man  is  born  again,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God” — you  cannot, 
I say,  have  an  adequate  idea  of  this  change  till  you  go  to  heathen  countries. 
Mt  n in  His  time  fell  into  the  same  mistakes  about  religion  which  you  notice 
in  India.  The  ignorant  masses  looked  upon  religion  as  consisting  wholly 
in  a series  of  forms,  and  the  learned  buried  it  under  metaphysical  subtleties. 
Christ  transferred  religion  from  the  region  of  forms,  and  from  the  domain 
of  wild  philosophy,  to  its  proper  place,  the  human  heart. 

Hinduism,  then,  is  a compound  of  two  religions,  one  for  the  masses,  and 
one  for  the  learned  few.  That  for  the  masses,  is  called  Karmakand,  or  the 
department  of  works.  The  masses  have  no  right  to  go  beyond  the  forms  of 
religion,  or  to  attempt  to  know  anything  about  God.  The  religion  for  the 
learned  few  is  called  Gyankand,  or  the  department  of  knowledge;  and  they 
are  called  upon  to  renounce  works  and  know  God.  The  transition,  how- 
ever, from  the  one  department  to  the  other  is  by  no  means  an  easy  task. 
A man  must  forsake  his  family,  and  pass  through  years  of  mortification 
and  penance,  ere  he  is  considered  fit  for  promotion  from  the  lower  to  the 
higher  department.  Then  he  has,  moreover,  the  great  task  of  finding  out, 
and  placing  himself  under  the  guidance  of  an  accredited  Guru,  or  teacher. 
The  Hindu  idea  of  inspiration  is  very  different  indeed  from  ours.  The 
Hindu  believes  that  the  Veda  was  originally  repeated  in  the  hearing  of  a 
great  teacher  by  God  himself.  That  teacher  repeated  it  in  the  hearing  of 
his  successor,  and  so  through  the  medium  of  oral  communication,  it  has 
come  down  to  the  accredited  teacher  of  the  hour.  The  man  anxious  to 
know  God  must  find  out  this  teacher  and  place  himself  unreservedly  under 
his  guidance. 


21 


Need  I tell  yon  that  Christianity  is  the  only  religion  in  the  world  that  is 
opposed  to  anything  like  monopoly  or  exclusiveness  ? It  addresses  all  man- 
kind as  sinners  without  taking  notice  of  the  petty  distinctions  that  separate 
them;  and  it  points  to  only  one  way  of  salvation  from  sin,  and  progress  in 
righteousness.  It  recognizes  no  privileged  path,  has  no  mysteries  for  fa- 
vored people,  and  makes  no  distinctions  in  matters  of  religion.  The  other 
religions  of  the  world,  however,  are  by  no  means  opposed  to  monopoly. 
The  ancient  religions  of  the  world  had  their  mysteries  for  the  learned  and 
truths  for  the  unlearned.  Mohammadhanism  has  its  Batini  or  Esoteric 
doctrines  for  the  learned,  and  its  Zahiri,  Exoteric  doctrines  for  the  masses; 
and  this  may  be  said  of  all  heathen  religions  now  existing. 

2.  The  second  question  to  which  I wish  to  draw  vour  attention  is-  -what 
is  the  Hindu  idea  of  Cod  V Co  to  the  unlearned  masses,  and  you  will  find 
them  scarcely  ascending  from  their  gods  to  the  sublime  idea  of  an  intelli- 
gent creator  and  ruler  of  the  universe.  Some  sentimentalists  in  Christen- 
dom believe  that  Hindus  worship  Cod  in  their  idols.  They  do  no  such 
thing.  Instead  of  worshipping  Cod,  they  simply  worship  the  persons,  heroes 
or  sages,  represented  by  the  idols  before  them.  There  is  not  a single  temple 
in  India  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Cod,  or  an  image  representing  Him. 
Co  to  the  Hindu  philosopher,  and  you  will  find  his  ideas  of  Cod  materially 
different  from  yours.  You  believe  in  a personal,  intelligent,  and  voluntary 
Creator  of  the  heavans  and  earth.  The  Hindu  believes  in  an  impersonal,  un- 
intelligent and  involuntary  substance.  You  believe  in  a Cod  capable  of 
thought,  feeling  and  volition;  whereas  the  Hindu  believes  in  an  unthinking 
unfeeling  essence.  Your  Cod  has  sympathies  and  antipathies  hates  sin 
and  loves  the  sinner:  whereas  the  Hindu  god  is  incapable  of  love  and  hate. 
I once  asked  a learned  Hindu  if  he  was  sure  that  God  loved  him.  His  reply 
was  characteristic — “Cod  neither  loves  nor  hates.”  Our  Cod  is  the  Al- 
mighty Ruler  of  the  universe,  whereas  the  Hindu  believes  either  in  idols, 
which  are  nothing,  or  in  a Being  which  is  equal  in  every  respect  to  Non- 
Being. 

3.  I must  now  pass  on  to  the  Hindu  notion  of  sin.  According  to  the 
the  masses,  association  with  matter  is  sin.  The  Hindus  believe,  as  many  an- 
cient philosophers  in  Europe  did,  that  there  is  something  impure  inherent  in 
matter,  and  that  our  being  encased  in  material  bodies  is  a source  of  degrada- 
tion and  torment.  Being  associated  with  material  bodies,  is  according  to 
them,  sin.  Again,  the  Hindus  look  upon  the  legitimate  gratification  of  our 
passions  and  appetites  as  sin.  We  know  that  our  passions  and  appetites 
are  given  to  us  by  Cod,  and  that  when  properly  gratified  they  are  sources 
of  refined  pleasures.  The  Hindu,  however,  looks  upon  them  as  sources  of 
sin  under  all  circumstances,  and  tries  to  extinguish  them.  And  lastly,  com- 
mon people  in  Hindoostan  look  upon  family  life  as  sin.  The  missionary 
daily  comes  across  men  who  assure  him  of  their  inability  to  become  really 


22 


religious  until  they  are  free  from  the  trammels  of  domestic  life.  The  phil- 
osopher, however,  represents  sin  as  an  illusion.  He  believes  in  the  unreality 
of  the  world  around  him  and  of  everything  done  by  man.  He  is  emphatic- 
ally in  dream-land! 

4.  The  Hindu  idea  of  salvation  is  suggested  by  the  Hindu  idea  of  sin. 
According  to  the  masses,  deliverance  from  material  bodies,  from  the  power 
of  our  passions  and  appetites,  as  well  as  from  the  trammels  of  domestic  life, 
is  in  one  sense  salvation.  According,  however,  to  the  learned,  deliverance 
from  ignorance  is  salvation.  Man  is  laboring  under  an  illusion,  and  there- 
fore believes  that  he  is  distinct  and  separate  from  the  objects  of  nature 
around  him,  and  from  God.  Let  him  be  emancipated  from  this  ignorance 
and  let  him  clearly  see  his  identity  with  nature  and  God,  and  he  is  saved. 
Right  knowledge  brings  him  to  where  he  unhesitatingly  says,  “ I am  God;  ” 
and  this  is  to  him  the  blessed  paradise  of  rest  in  this  world,  and  a prelude 
to  his  final  absorption  into  the  Deity  or  the  all-pervading  substance  called 
Brahm. 

Christians  are  called  children  of  light,  and  that  very  properly,  for  they 
can  answer  certain  important  questions  which  force  themselves  on  our  at- 
tention. Take,  for  instance,  the  question  embodied  in  the  word,  Whence? 
Whence  have  I come?  This  question  the  Hindu  philosopher  cannot  answer 
any  more  than  the  scientist  of  the  day,  who  wilfully  lays  aside  revealed 
truth.  The  Hindu  is  not  sure  whether  he  has  sprung  out  of  the  substance 
of  God,  or  whether  he  is  the  result  of  a process  of  evolution,  the  starting 
point  of  which  is  a primordial  atom.  If  however,  he  assures  himself  that  he 
is  a particle  of  the  substance  of  God,  he  is  deplorably  mistaken.  The  Chris- 
tian knows  that  God  is  his  creator,  and  that  whatever  may  have  been  the 
process  or  creation,  he  owes  his  existence,  and  every  breath  he  draws,  to 
Power  Divine.  He  believes  in  the  miracle  of  creation,  and  consequently  in 
the  possibility  of  miraculous  aid  from  above,  while  the  proud  philosopher 
and  scientist  has  no  help  beyond  that  of  his  feeble  self  to  fall  back  upon' 
Again,  the  Christian  can  satisfactorily  answer  the  question  embodied  in  the 
word  WnY?  Why  has  God  placed  me  in  this  world?  The  Hindu  answer 
to  this  question  is  sad  indeed.  He  very  frequently  represents  this  world  as 
the  sphere  of  divine  sport  God  creates  man,  and  amuses  himself  by  making 
him  at  times  happy  and  at  times  miserable!  Or,  if  he  is  enlightened,  he  be- 
lieves that  he  is  placed  under  an  illusion  by  God  himself  for  purposes  to 
him  unknown.  The  Christian  is  sure  that  God  has  created  him  for  the 
manifestation  of  His  own* glory  and  he  tries  to  glorify  him  in  his  body  and 
in  his  soul,  which  are  His.  He  is  never  in  the  dark,  for  whatever  happens, 
whether  to  him  prosperous  or  adverse,  he  cheerfully  looks  upon  as  fitted  to 
subserve  the  grand  object  of  his  life,  the  glorification  of  God,  and  the  conse- 
quent advancement  of  the  best  inte tests  of  creation.  The  Christian,  more- 
over, can  answer  the  question  embodied  in  the  word,  Where?  Where  am  I? 


\ » 


uru^ 

i jw  A 

l 

Iu  a state  of  union  with  or  separation  from  God?  The  Christian  is  no 
Christian  till  he  has  settled  this  most  important  question,  till  he  is  in  a 
position  to  affirm  that  he  is  being  led  by  his  Father  in  heaven,  along  the  path 
which  he  should  tread.  I have  yet  to  come  across  a Hindu,  or  a Buddhist, 
or  a Brahrno,  or  a devotee  of  conscience  who  has  this  blessed  assurance. 
And  lastly,  the  Christian  can  answer  the  question  embodied  in  the  word 
Whither?  Whither  am  I going?  The  Christian  is  not  only  assured  of  his 
adoption  into  the  family  of  God  in  this  life,  but  he  looks  forward  to  an  in- 
heritance incorruptible,  undetiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away.  The  Hindu 
looks  forward  to  certain  punishment— so  does  the  theist,  inasmuch  as  he  is 
conscious  of  sin  and  believes  in  the  impossibility  of  pardon.  The  Christian 
is  emphatically  a child  of  light,  while  the  Hindu,  or  the  Buddhist,  or  the 
Theist,  or  the  light-hating  scientist,  is  a child  of  darkness  and  despair. 


LECTURE  III. 

MANNERS  and  CUSTOMS  0P  the  HINDUS. 


Practical  Hinduism  vies  with  speculative  Hinduism  in  degrading  a tine, 
intellectual  people,  dwelling  in  one  of  the  most  magnificent  countries  in  this 
world  can  boast  of.  Speculative  Hinduism  confounds  the  creator  with  the 
creation,  obliterates  the  eternal  distinction  between  right  and  wrong,  and 
represents  human  actions,  as  well  as  the  objects  of  nature,  as  illusions.  It 
cannot  but  exercise  a demoralizing  influence.  Practical  Hinduism  is  by  no 
means  better  fitted  to  uphold  religion  and  morality.  It  presents  as  objects 
of  worship  a host  of  gods  and  goddesses  that  are  either  monsters  of  ferocity 
or  monsters  of  idee.  It  also  obliterates  moral  distinctions  by  making  that 
in  the  case  of  gods  a virtue  which  in  the  case  of  man  is  vice.  It  is,  more- 
over, a stepping-stone  to  the  higher  form  of  Hinduism.  Practical  Hindu- 
ism bears  the  same  relation  to  speculative  Hinduism  which  the  law  bears  to 
Christ.  As  the  law  is  the  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  up  to  Christ,  so  is  the 
lower  form  of  Hinduism  the  schoolmaster  to  bring  its  votaries  to  the  higher 
form.  I am  threfore  justified  in  saying  that  practical  Hinduism  combines 
with  speculative  Hinduism  in  degrading  and  debasing  the  Hindu  nation- 
ality. 

In  view  of  the  wretched  principles  of  Hinduism  and  of  the  abominable 
character  of  its  gods  and  goddesses,  what  would  you  expect  to  find  in  India? 
You  would  expect  to  find  a perfect  picture  of  moral  anarchy  developed  in 
India.  You  would  expect  to  find  the  bonds  of  society  dissolved,  the  ties  of 


24 


domestic  life  rent  asunder,  promiscuous  intercourse  taking  the  place  o 
holy  matrimony,  unnat  ural  feelings  developed,  and  vice  and  crime  rampant. 
This  dark  picture,  I am  happy  to  say,  is  not  realized  in  India.  The  Hindus 
are,  on  the  whole,  a virtuous  people — I make  use  of  the  word  virtuous  in  its 
ordinary  acceptation,  not  in  a Christian  sense.  They  are  proverbially  a 
temperate  and  abstemious  people.  Your  countrymen  see  strange  sights  in 
India.  They  sometimes  see  about  50,000  people  assembled  in  an  enclosure 
to  celebrate  a national  festival.  They  sometimes  see  about  100,000  people 
congregated  on  the  banks  of  a river  to  perform  a prescribed  ablution.  But 
in  these  vast  gatherings  they  rarely  come  across  a man  or  woman  the  worse 
for  liquor.  The  Hindus  are  not  passionately  fond  of  any  intoxicating  drug 
or  drink.  The  Chinese  are  passionately  fond  of  opium,  and  Englishmen 
are  passionately  fond  of  beer.  I dare  not  say  that  Americans  are  passion- 
ately fond  of  beer — I do  not  wish  to  be  hailed  with  rotten  eggs  in  your 
streets!  The  Hindus,  however,  may  justly  be  represented  as  a nation  of 
teetotalers,  and  that  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  some  of  the  lower  castes  are 
addicted  to  drinking. 

The  Hindus,  moreover,  are  proverbially  mild  and  gentle.  You  will  re- 
mind me  of  the  mutinies,  and  say  that  they  were  not  particularly  mild  and 
gentle  then.  But  please  remember  that  the  gross  crimes  associated  with 
those  events  were  committed,  not  by  the  Hindu  nation,  but  by  those  who 
are  the  scum  of  the  Hindu  nation,  and  who  in  times  of  revolution  come  up 
to  the  surface.  Many  dark  crimes  were  committed  by  Englishmen  in  India 
in  those  troublous  times.  Barbarities  were  recently  perpetrated  by  English 
soldiers  in  Afghanistan.  Are  we  to  lay  these  crimes  at  the  door  of  the  Eng- 
lish people,  and  vilify  them?  No  more  are  you  justified  in  laying  the  dark 
crimes  with  which  the  mutinies  are  associated  at  the  door  of  the  Hindu  na* 
tion.  The  Hindus,  moreover,  are  exceedingly  polite  and  urbane.  Home 
people  are  in  the  habit  of  perpetually  harping  upon  what  they  are  pleased 
to  call  Asiatic  treachery.  They  forget  that  duplicity  and  dissimulation  are 
weapons  which  the  weak  invariably  employ  against  the  strong,  and  that 
treachery  in  the  Asiatic  races  is  frequently  the  natural  reaction  against  the 
oppressions  to  which  they  are  subjected  by  European  nations.  Nor  are 
these  nations  free  from  duplicity  and  dissimulation  in  their  intercourse  with 
their  equals.  Take,  for  instance,  an  ordinary  example:  One  Englishman 
visits  another,  and  the  host  stands  up,  rel  ieves  him  courteously  and  says, 
“I  am  very  glad  to  see  you,”  while  aside  he  says,  “when  w ill  this  bore  leave 
my  house.”  In  his  dealing,  however,  with  the  poor  natives  of  India,  it  is 
not  necessary  for  him  to  resort  to  duplicity  he  has  only  to  say  to  a native 
visitor,  “Oo  out;  don’t  disturb  me  at  an  unreasonable  hour.”  If  the  word 
diplomacy  means  anything,  it  means  duplicity,  and  when  diplomacy  is  be- 
ing reduced  to  a science  in  Europe,  it  is  very  cool  of  European  gentlemen 
to  bring  sweeping  accusations  of  treachery  against  Asiatic  peoples.  The 


25 


Hindus,  according  to  philosophic  observers  like  Bishop  Heber,  have  virtues 
which  Christian  nations  will  do  well  to  imitate. 

Now  here  is  a social  problem  for  you  to  solve, — a nation  under  the  guid- 
ance of  an  execrable  faith,  retaining  not  a few  of  the  virtues  by  which  it  was 
distinguished  when  it  was  loyal  to  its  God.  This  is,  indeed,  a strange  phe- 
nomenon, but  it  is  not  hard  to  explain.  Let  me  direct  your  attention  to  the 
following  facts  fitted  in  my  humble  opinion  to  furnish  the  explanation 
needed:— 

1st.  Please  observe,  in  the  first  place,  that  a man  is  as  a rule  better  than 
Lis  theology.  I emphasize  the  words  ins  theology,  for  man  is  never  better 
than  revealed  truth  is  fitted  to  make  him.  I believe  that  man  falls  infin- 
itely short  of  the  lofty  standard  to  which  the  facts  of  Revelation  are  fitted  to 
raise  him.  He  is,  however,  better  than  his  own  theology,  which  is  tinctured 
with  onesidedness  and  error.  The  rabid  Calvinist  who  exalts  the  sovereignty 
of  God  at  the  expense  of  human  responsibility,  thinks,  wills,  and  acts,  as  if 
he  were  a veritable  Armenian.  The  rabid  Armenian  who  exalts  the  freedom 
of  the  will  at  the  expense  of  divine  sovereignty,  hangs  upon  God  with  the 
intensity  of  faith  and  trust,  which  the  Calvinist,  as  a rule,  exhibits.  Take 
another  example:  The  rabid  perfectionist  who  stands  up  and  coolly  affirms 
that  he  is  sinless,  never  hesitates  to  sing  with  enthusiasm  the  chorus  begin- 
ning with,  “I  know  1 am  weak  and  sinful.”  "While  the  rabid  anti-perfec- 
tionist, who  tells  his  experience  in  groans  and  sighs,  sings  with  cheerful- 
ness and  joy,  “My  life  Hows  on  in  endless  song.”  Man  is  better  than  his 
theology,  as  a rule,  and  if  the  Hindu  is  better  than  his,  we  ought  not  to  look 
upon  the  circumstance  as  very  strange. 

2nd.  Please  observe,  in  the  second  place,  that  a man’s  moral  instincts 
are  more  powerful  than  his  theological  ideas.  Whenever  there  is  a contest 
between  the  instincts  of  our  moral  nature  and  our  theological  dogmas,  the 
victory  rests  with  the  former,  not  with  the  latter.  There  has  been  a contest, 
going  on  for  ages  in  India,  between  the  instincts  of  the  Hindu  heart  and  the 
dogmas  of  the  Hindu  head,  and  the  result  has  been,  as  might  have  been  an- 
ticipated. 

3d.  Observe  in  the  third  place  that  there  is  a body  of  moral  teaching,  of 
the  loftiest  and  purest  type,  associated  with  the  wretched  doctrines  of  Hin- 
duism. "When  M.  Renan,  the  brilliant  but  frivolous  lawyer  of  Paris,  traced 
some  Years  ago  the  golden  ride  of  Christian  morality,  “Do  unto  others  as 
you  woidd  be  done  by,”  to  the  writings  of  Rabbi  Hillel,  the  Christian  world 
stood  aghast  before  him.  They  felt  as  if  one  of  the  great  props  of  evidence 
was  giving  way  underneath  their  feet.  It  is,  however,  a dangerous  thing  to 
make  the  evidences  of  our  religion  hinge  on  a solitary  doctrine  of  Christian 
theology,  or  a solitary  precept  of  Christian  morality.  The  golden  rule  may 
be  found  in  all  its  entireness  in  the  writings  of  Confucius,  whde  the  maxim, 
“Love  your  enemies,”  is  found  scattered  up  and  down  in  the  sacred  books  of 


26 


the  Hindus.  “He  like  the  Banian  tree,”  says  the  the  Hindu  moralist,  “which 
casts  its  shade,  not  only  over  its  friends,  but  even  over  those  by  whom  its 
branches  are  cut  off.  “Be  like  the  Sandal  tree,  which  gives  its  fragrance  even 
to  those  by  whom  it  is  cut  down.”  There  is,  then,  a vast  body  of  moral  teach- 
ing of  the  purest  type  in  the  Hindu  books,  and  this  teaching  has  not  been 
in  vain! 

4th.  There  is,  moreover,  a vast  body  of  legendary  lore  which  is  fitted  to 
feed  and  nourish  the  national  virtues  of  the  Hindus.  Let  me  illustrate  this 
by  an  example: — the  Hindus  are  a very  hospitable  people.  Their  hospitality 
is  scarcely  excelled  by  the  splendid  hospitality  of  your  own  country.  How  is 
their  hospitality  fed  and  nourished?  By  a beautiful  legend,  which  let  me 
relate.  Once  upon  a time  there  lived  a king,  famed  for  his  singular  gen- 
erosity. His  name  was  the  generous  Kama.  Narayuna,  the  great  god  of 
the  Hindus,  if  not  God  Himself,  determined  to  test  his  generosity;  and  so  he 
appeared  on  the  threshold  of  his  palace,  in  the  form  of  an  aged  Brahmin, 
and  begged  hospitality.  The  king  hastened  towards  him,  and  with  folded 
arms  enquired,  saying,  “What  will  your  reverence  have  for  refreshment?” 
The  Brahmin  replied,  “ I am  a hungry  Brahmin,  but  before  I prefer  my  re- 
quest, I wish  to  know  how  many  children  you  have?  ” The  king  replied,  “I 
have  only  one  beloved  son,  my  heir,  and  my  life.”  The  Brahmin  replied, “If 
you  wish  to  satisfy  an  aged,  hungry  Brahmin,  you  must  give  me  the  Hesh  of 
your  only  boy  to  eat.”  The  king  said  in  reply,  “Will  not  your  holiness  bring 
forward  some  other  request:  I am  willing  to  give  you  half  of  ray  kingdom  if 
you  will  spare  me  the  necessity  of  slaying  my  boy”.  The  Brahmin  said,  “ I 
have  no  other  request  to  bring  forward,  give  me  the  flesh  of  your  son  to  eat 
or  see  a Brahmin  going  out  of  your  palace  hungry.”  The  king  consulted 
his  wife,  and  made  up  his  mind  to  make  the  tremendous  sacrifice.  The 
Brahmin  finding  him  ready,  made  another  proposal  still  more  trying.  He 
insisted  that  the  boy  should  be  sawn  asunder,  and  that  he  and  his  wife 
should  hold  the  handles  of  the  saw  and  ply  it.  But  when  the  operation 
was  about  to  commence,  the  Brahmin  appeared  in  his  original  form  of  Nar- 
ayuna, and  blessed  the  king,  saying:  “Thou  art  generous  indeed!”  This 
legend  is  sung  in  the  shape  of  a jingling  ballad  in  our  country,  and  along 
with  others  of  a similar  type  feeds  some  of  the  national  virtues  of  the 
Hindus. 

5.  And  lastly,  please  observe  that  the  efficacy  of  the  death  of  Christ  is 
not  confined  to  the  Christian  Church.  A virtue  goes  out  of  it,  and  exercises 
a beneficial  influence  over  heathen  lands,  so  that  you  find  in  these  favored 
abode  of  error,  good  fathers,  tender-hearted  mothers,  faithful  husbands,  lov- 
ing wives,  dutiful  children,  and  honest  membors  of  society.  These  reasons 
are  sufficient  to  explain  the  social  paradox  of  a people  professing  fatalism 
and  practising  virtue  of  an  amiable,  if  not  a sublime  type. 

But  there  are  certain  destructive  forces  at  work  within  the  bowels  of  Hin- 


27 


du  society;  and  if  these  were  not  counteracted,  the  moral  death  of  our  na- 
tion would  only  be  a question  of  time.  To  some  of  these  let  me  direct  your 
attention,  premising  that,  as  India  is  nearly  as  extensive  as  your  own  country, 
the  evils  to  be  pointed  out  are  not  at  work  with  the  same  degree  of  fury  in 
all  its  parts.  A gentleman  about  to  leave  England  for  America,  paid  a visit 
to  an  old  lady  in  a country  village.  The  old  lady  said:  “You  are  going  to 
America ; you  will  of  course  see  my  boy  Ben,  and  when  you  do  so,  please  tell 
him  that  I am  very  anxious  to  see  him.”  America  loomed  up  before  this 
old  lady  as  a village  scarcely  larger  than  her  own,  and  she  felt  sure  that  a 
man  could  not  cross  the  Atlantic  without  seeing  her  boy  Ben.  Most  people 
in  America  have  a similar  idea  of  India.  They  forget  that  India  is  a vast 
country,  occupied  by  twenty  different  races,  speaking  twenty  different  dia- 
lects, and  separated  from  each  other,  in  manners  and  customs,  as  decidedly 
as  the  Italian  is  separated  from  the  Englishman.  The  evils,  however,  that 
I shall  point  out,  are  ubiquitous  in  India. 

1.  The  tir|t  evil  to  which  I wish  to  draw  your  attention  is  the  formidable 
caste  system  of  which  you  have  heard  so  much.  The  caste  system  has  been 
properly  described  as  the  very  essence,  the  life,  and  soul  of  Hinduism.  In  fact 
the  caste  system  is  Hinduism,  and  Hinduism  is  the  caste  system.  So  long 
as  a Hindu  observes  a few  of  his  caste  rules,  he  is  at  liberty  to  believe  in 
what  he  pleases,  and  do  what  he  pleases.  He  may  be  an  atheist,  and  prop- 
agate atheism  without  losing  his  caste.  He  may  be  an  anti-theist,  and  prop- 
agate hostility  to  God,  wifhout  being  excommunicated.  He  may  believe  that 
his  great  grandfather  was  an  anthropomorphous  ape,  to  the  great  delight 
of  the  scientists  of  the  day,  without  being  ostracised.  But  if  he  drinks  a 
glass  of  water  given  him  by  the  holiest  European  alive,  he  forthwith  be- 
comes an  outcast.  Again,  he  may  be  guilty  of  adrdtery,  fornication,  and 
even  theft,  without  losing  his  caste.  Nay,  he  may  commit  all  the  dark 
crimes  which  human  hands  have  perpetrated  in  this  world,  and  yet  retain 
his  social  standing.  But  if  he  drinks  a glass  of  water  given  him  by  a Hindu 
of  a very  inferior  caste,  he  is  ostracised. 

A missionary  may,  for  a few  dollars,  get  a learned  Brahmin  to  translate 
the  Bible  for  him,  and  even  to  write  a treatise  against  Hinduism;  but  all 
the  dollars  of  America  will  not  induce  the  man  so  recreant  to  drink  a glass  of 
water  given  him  by  the  missionary.  Let  me  refer  to  an  incident  of  the  mu- 
tinies as  illustrative  of  the  hold  caste  has  on  the  Hindu  mind.  A few 
wounded  Sepoys  were  left  uncared  for  in  a room  in  the  Agra  fort.  They 
were  tormented  by  a raging  thirst.  A European  soldier  had  compassion  on 
them,  fetched  a glass  of  water,  and  offered  it  to  one  of  the  sufferers.  The 
man  refused  to  touch  the  glass.  These  men  had  evidently  committed  gross 
crimes — had  murdered  European  gentlemen  and  dishonored  European  la- 
dies; but  they  deliberately  chose  to  die  amid  the  horrors  of  thirst  rather 


28 


than  accept  a glass  of  water  given  them  by  European  soldiers. 

The  caste  system  represses  the  ingenuity  of  the  Hindu  race  by  making 
over  the  trades  to  the  uneducated  classes ; dries  up  the  f ountains  of  sympathy 
in  the  human  heart,  and  breeds  class  antipathies  of  the  worst  type.  And  it  is 
the  greatest  obstacle  which  the  missionary  enterprise  has  to  encounter  in  In- 
dia. A respectable  Hindu  cannot  embrace  Christianity  without  being  com- 
pletely ostracised.  The  moment  he  does  so,  he  places  himself  where  he  is 
shunned,  not  only  by  his  friends  and  relations  in  general,  but  by  his  own  pa- 
rents; while  his  own  wife  and  children  shrink  from  his  loving  embrace.  Some 
time  after  my  baptism,  a few  of  my  female  relations  invited  me  to  see  them 
in  the  house  of  a common  friend.  I was  not  allowed  into  my  own  house, 
and  I have  not  crossed  its  threshold  since  I was  baptised,  about  thirty  years 
ago.  These  female  relations  had  with  them  a bright  little  boy,  a nephew 
of  mine,  of  whom  I was  very  fond.  As  soon  as  I saw  him,  I instinctively 
stretched  forth  my  hands  to  lift  him  up  and  draw  him  towards  my  bosom; 
but  the  boy,  though  only  four  years  old,  shrank  from  my  embrace,  saying, 
“Uncle,  you  have  corrupted  yourself,  and  I will  not  touch  you.”  There  are 
hundreds  of  persons  in  India,  who  are  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  truth 
of  Christianity,  but  who  are  prevented  by  this  formidable  system  from  en- 
tering the  church  by  the  rite  of  baptism. 

2.  Coolinism  and  polygamy  are  among  the  destructive  forces  at  work  in 
our  country.  You  have  here  an  infamous  nest  of  polygamy,  and  you  are 
trying  to  purify  it.  But  your  nest  of  polygamy  is  heaven  itself  compared 
with  what  we  have  in  India,  specially  in  Bengal.  The  Brahmins  of  the 
highest  caste  in  Bengal  are  called  Coolins,  and  no  one  of  them  is  considered 
pure  until  he  has  married  at  least  four  wives.  To  a Brahmin  of  this  caste 
marriage  is  a profitable  trade;  and  so  whenever  he  squanders  away,  his 
money  and  becomes  poor,  he  has  resource  to  a marriage  as  the  easiest  way 
of  mending  his  battered  fortune.  A wretch  of  this  description  sometimes 
marries  fifty  wives.  The  question  will  suggest  itself  to  your  minds,  how 
does  he  support  them?  Let  me  relieve  you  of  all  anxiety  by  stating  that 
he  himself  is  supported  by  his  wives.  He  goes  to  the  house  of  one  and  re- 
mains as  long  as  he  is  feasted  and  feted,  and  then  goes  to  another,  and  so 
on  until  he  has  completed  the  round  of  his  felicituous  visits.  Nothing 
even  in  India  is  so  demoralizing  as  this  wretched  custom,  and  its  forcible 
suppression  is  demanded  by  the  exigencies  of  a civilized  government. 

3.  Female  ignorance  and  female  seclusion  occupy  a prominent  place 
among  the  evils  to  be  mentioned.  Female  ignorance  and  female  seclusion 
ought  in  my  humble  opinion  to  go  together.  If  females  are  held  in  igno- 
rance, debarred  from  the  advantages  of  education,  or  completely  shut  out  of 
the  cheering  light  of  knowledge,  the  best  thing  you  can  do  with  them  is  to 
shut  them  up.  I was  never  more  impressed  with  this  idea  than  when  I noticed  a 
circumstance  in  your  country.  I was  going  in  a street  car  at  Cincinnati,  along 


29 


with  half  a dozen  young  men  at  about  ten  o’clock  at  night,  when  a lady 
stepped  in,  and  with  characteristic  dignity  occupied  a seat.  The  sight  sug- 
gested a train  of  thoughts  to  my  mind,  and  I said  to  myself,  what  is  the  pro- 
tection of  this  lady?  The  laws  of  your  country  protect  her,  as  well  as  the 
traditions  and  associations  by  which  your  national  character  is  moulded 
and  fashioned;  but  her  greatest  protection  is  in  herself.  Her  intelligence — 
that  is  her  shield  and  her  buckler.  If  she  had  been  as  ignorant  as  our 
countrywomen  are,  the  best  thing  she  could  have  done  would  have  been  to 
have  stayed  at  home,  and  not  to  have  walked  out  at  such  an  unseasonable 
hour  of  the  night.  Ignorant  women"  had  better  be  shut  up.  You  will  per- 
haps say  that  ignorant  men  should  be  shut  up.  Yes,  they  ought  but  who 
is  to  do  the  needful?  The  gospel  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  law  of  the 
survival  of  the  fittest,  is  on  the  side  of  the  stronger  sex.  But  ladies  need 
not  despair— they  are  taking  to  manly  exercises,  boating,  skating,  etc.,  and 
the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  ignorant  husbands  will  be  shut  up  by  their 
wives! 

Seclusion,  however,  adds  to  the  sorrows  .of  ignorant  women.  If  a number 
of  educated  ladies  in  America  were  confined  in  one  of  those  dungeons  called 
Zenanas,  they  might,  by  means  of  a hundred  expedients,  make  their  “du- 
rance vile”  tolerable.  They  might,  for  instance,  read  good  books,  play  upon 
musical  instruments,  or  sing  songs,  and  thereby  while  away  their  time.  Or 
they  might  discuss  politics,  some  ranging  themselves  under  Garfield,  and 
some  under  Hancock,  and  keep  up  a running  fight  for  days  and  weeks,  if 
not  for  months  and  years.  In  fine,  they  might  have  a hundred  ways  of 
making  their  seclusion  endurable.  But  from  these  resources  our  ignorant 
women  are  entirely  cut  off,  and  to  them  seclusion  is  a source  of  unuttera- 
ble torment.  They  lounge  from  one  place  to  another  without  any  specific 
aim  of  life,  and  without  a single  thing  to  interrupt  the  monotony  of  their 
existence.  The  only  healthy  excitement  they  have  is  a quarrel,  which  com- 
ing once  in  a while  relieves  them  of  monotony.  You  laugh — but  pray  re- 
member that  quarrels,  big  and  small,  supply  the  greatest  portion  of  the  ex- 
citement you  have.  Your  theologians  would  die  of  monotony  and  inanity, 
if  quarrels  did  not  exist  in  the  shape  of  theological  controversies.  Your 
republican  politicians  would  die  of  languor  if  they  had  no  democrats  to  op- 
pose and  abuse;  and  vice  versa.  Our  ladies  watch  a quarrel  with  the  same 
interest  with  which  you  looked  for  bulletins  of  news  from  Europe,  when  the 
Emperor  of  Kussia  was  reading  a thundering  lecture  to  the  Sultan  of  Tur- 
key; and  they  divide  themselves  into  conventions,  not  unlike  that  at  Berlin, 
to  adjudicate  upon  its  merits.  And  in  this  way  they  amuse  themselves  for 
a short  time. 

Sometimes  our  termagants  of  inferior  castes  manage  to  keep  a quarrel 
alive  for  days,  if  not  weeks.  They  go  on  exchanging  compliments  until  they 
are  literally  hoarse,  and  then  they  throw  down  a basket  and  postpone  the 


30 


quarrel  till  it  is  lifted  up.  They  retire  to  their  houses,  and  at  the  appointed 
time,  come  back  to  lift  up  the  basket  and  resume  the  quarrel.  Your  re- 
viewers do  the  same,  when  they  carry  a controversy  to  a certain  stage,  and 
give  their  readers  to  understand  that  the  remaining  arguments  are  to  be 
presented  in  the  next  number. 

4.  Early  marriage  and  perpetual  widowhood  are  among  the  destructive 
forces  at  work.  India  is  emphatically  a land  of  baby  marriages.  In  India 
girls  three  years  old  are  married  to  boys  five  years  old;  and  on  occasions, 
certainly  rare,  the  marriage  ceremony  takes  place  even  before  the  parties 
united  in  wedlock  are  born.  It  has  sometimes  occured  that  a girl  has  been 
ushered  into  the  world  a widow.  This,  however,  is  not  a common  phenom- 
enon, but  a girl  widowed  at  the  age  of  five  or  seven  or  nine,  is  an  ordinary 
sight.  A girl  thus  widowed  is  compelled  to  remain  a widow  all  her  lifetime. 
A man  in  India  is  at  liberty  to  marry  as  often  as  he  likes.  A Hindu  is  some- 
times driven  to  a second  marriage  even  during  the  lifetime  of  his  first  wife. 
He  cannot  do  without  male  issue — he  needs  a male  child  to  perpetuate  his 
name  and  caste  privileges,  as  well  as  to  perform  his  funeral  ceremony,  and 
thereby  expedite  his  egress  from  purgatory.  And  if  his  first  wife  does  not 
present  him  with  a male  child,  he  is  compelled,  often  against  his  will,  to 
marry  again.  But  the  girl  widowed  at  the  age  of  five,  in  consequence  of 
the  stupidity  of  her  parents,  is  debarred  from  the  privilege  of  a second  mar- 
riage. She  must  continue  a widow  all  her  lifetime.  Some  degree  of  indul- 
gence is  extended  to  her  for  a few  years;  but  when  she  reaches  the  twelfth 
year  of  her  life,  she  becomes  a widow  indeed.  She  has  to  lay  aside  her  finery 
and  her  jewelry,  sometimes  to  shave  her  head,  and  to  make  herself  as  ugly 
as  a cruel  system  of  superstition  can  make  her.  She  has  to  subsist  on  one 
principal  meal  a day,  and  that  of  the  coarsest  kind.  She  has  to  fast  twice  a 
month,  and  on  the  fast  days  she  is  not  at  liberty  to  drink  a drop  of  water, 
though  the  thermometer  exhibits  an  excessive  amount  of  heat.  And 
poor  thing!  she  is  cut  off  from  public  sympathy,  the  sympathy  of  all  but 
those  who  are  very  near  and  dear  to  her.  The  Hindus  believe  in  the  doc- 
trine of  transmigration,  and  they  look  upon  her  sufferings  as  the  punitive 
consequences  of  the  sins  she  is  supposed  to  have  committed  in  some  pre- 
vious state  of  existence,  and  when  this  idea  gets  into  the  head,  the  springs 
of  sympathy  are  dried  up.  In  former  times  the  widow  had  to  immolate  her- 
self on  the  funeral  pyre  of  her  husband,  and  a European  lady  justly  says 
that  her  condition  then  was  better.  An  hour’s  torment,  and  all  was  over 
But  now  she  has  a life  of  sorrow,  distress,  and  unutterable  wretchedness. 

Your  Zenana  missionary  works  among  these  miserable  persons,  and  the 
simplest  truths  she  teaches  are  revolutionary.  When,  for  instance,  she  re- 
minds them  that  they  have  minds  to  educate,  or  souls  to  save,  they  gaze  up- 
on her  in  mute  amazement.  They  know  that  their  male  relations  have 
souls  to  slave,  and  minds  to  look  after;  but  as  for  themselves,  they  are  born 


31 


to  drudge  and  slave,  and  the  pleasures  of  knowledge  and  salvation  are  not 
meant  for  them.  When  the  progressive  women  of  your  country  agitate  for 
the  extension  of  the  suffrage  to  the  female  sex,  or  for  seats  in  the  legislature, 
they  are  said  to  promulgate  revolutionary  principles.  What  a gap  between 
principles  looked  upon  as  revolutionary  among  you,  and  those  which  are 
considered  so  in  the  Indian  Zenana ! 

The  missionary  in  India  is  not  merely  a missionary  of  the  cross,  but  a 
missionary  of  civilization.  He  does  not  come  up  to  the  grandeur  of  his  posi- 
tion when  he  tries  to  separate  Christianity  from  the  glorious  forms  of  civil- 
ization with  which  it  is  indissolubly  connected,  and  to  present  it  in  what  is 
called  its  original  simplicity.  The  missionary,  however,  does  not  present 
Christianity  in  its  pristine  simplicity.  He  separates  it,  indeed,  from  the 
forms  of  civilization  with  which  it  is  connected,  but  he  does  not  separate  it 
from  it  s forms  of  ecclesiastical  and  theological  development.  He  does  not 
carry  with  him  a steam  engine  or  a cotton  mill;  but  he  carries  with  him  a 
fossilized  creed,  or  a petrified  theology,  and  stereotyped  forms  of  church 
government.  He  carries  with  him  standards  and  symbolsi  disciplines  and 
catechisms,  but  he  leaves  behind  him  telegraphs  and  telephones.  The  fault, 
however,  does  not  rest  with  him.  You  give  him  money  enough  to  hire  a 
birch  rod  and  force  catechisms  into  the  heads  of  his  converts,  but  you  do 
not  give  him  money  enough  to  buy  a steam  engine  and  improve  the  water 
supply  of  the  town  in  which  they  live.  My  decided  conviction  is,  that  if  the 
missionary  were  to  leave  behind  him  his  catechisms  and  systematized  theol- 
ogy, and  take  with  him  some  of  the  improvements  of  the  day,  he  would  be 
hailed  as  a greater  benefactor  than  under  the  present  circumstances  he  can 
possibly  be.  India  needs  the  Bible,  and  the  civilization  of  which  the  Bible 
is  the  productive  cause,  more  than  theological  controversies  and  ecclesias- 
tical wrangling. 


LECTURE  IV. 

THE  RESULTS  OK  MWIONHRY  LHB0R  IN 

INDITE 


The  apostles  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  occupied  a unique  position  when 
they  began  the  great  work  of  their  lives,  the  work  of  propagating  a new 
faith.  They  were  a feeble  and  forlorn  band,  men  without  wealth,  without 
power,  without  Social  influence,  without  respectability,  and  without  such 
learning  as  is  valued  in  this  world.  And  they  had,  moreover,  the  whole 
world  with  its  wealth,  power,  influence,  respectability  and  learning  arrayed 
against  them.  Yet  their  efforts  were  crowned  with  signal  success.  When 


32 


we  contemplate  that  success,  we  are  tempted  to  look  upon  it,  at  first  sight, 
as  an  inexplicable  phenomenon.  But  when  we  narrowly  look  into  the  mat- 
ter, we  cease  to  wonder  at  its  greatness.  The  apostles  had  that  with  them 
which  was  pre-eminently  fitted  to  make  them  successful.  They  had,  for  in- 
stance, truth  on  their  side;  and  truth  is  inherently  fitted  to  triumph  in  this 
world.  Truth  has  to  contend  with  gigantic  systems  of  error;  but  it  is  beau- 
tifully  adapted  to  overcome  and  annihilate  them.  And  inasmuch  as  the 
apostles  had  truth,  unconquerable  and  all-triumphant  truth  on  their  side, 
their  success,  splendid  though  it  was,  ceases  to  be  a matter  of  wonder  to  us. 
Then  again  the  apostles  had,  not  merely  truth,  but  God  on  their  side.  They 
had  the  unlimited  power  and  the  unerring  wisdom  of  heaven  to  support 
them  in  their  labor  of  love.  And  when  we  think  of  these  essential  condi- 
tions of  success  in  their  career,  the  victory  with  which  it  was  crowned,  in 
the  teeth  of  appalling  difficulties,  ceases  to  be  an  inexplicable  phenomenon 
to  us. 

Please  observe  that  these  two  conditions  of  success  met  in  the  missionary 
whom  they  sent  abroad.  The  missionary  left  your  shores,  armed  with 

t 

truth,  invincible,  all-conquering  truth;  and  when  you  sent  the  missionary 
abroad  thus  armed  you  had  a right  to  expect  success.  The  missionary, 
moreover,  had  God  on  his  side,  the  unlimited  power  and  unerring  wisdom 
of  Heaven  to  guide  and  sustain  him  in  his  labor  of  love.  And  when  yon 
sent  him  abroad  thus  armed  and  thus  supported,  you  had  a right,  I repeat, 
to  expect  success.  And  in  the  course  of  Providence,  I have  come  to  your 
country  to  assure  you  that  your  expectations  have  been  realized,  and  that 
the  efforts  of  your  missionaries  have  been  crowned  with  encouraging  sue. 
cess.  Indian  missionaries  have  no  reason  to  be  unduly  elated.  Their  suc- 
cess has  not  been  magnificent  enough  to  justify  undue  exaltation  or  self- 
complacency  on  their  part.  But  neither  have  they  reason  to  be  unduly  de- 
j)ressed.  God  has  crowned  their  efforts  with  success  brilliant  enough  to 
prove  a source  of  encouragement  to  them,  as  well  as  to  you,  their  constitu- 
ents. This  success  let  me  set  forth  in  the  simplest  manner  possible. 

I will  not  burden  you  with  statistics,  though  these  are  pregnant  with  en- 
couragement. With  two  or  three  exceptions,  all  our  Protestant  missions 
have  been  organized  within  the  last  seventy  years,  and  many  of  them  are 
new  organizations.  Our  own  mission,  for  instance,  the  Methodist  mission, 
is  only  twenty-five  years  old,  and  missions  have  been  organized  since  ours 
was  instituted.  And  yet  to-day  .we  have  in  India  a Protestant,  native 
Christian  population  of  about  460,000  souls.  An  accurate  and  comprehen- 
sive census  was  taken  about  ten  years  ago  (the  coming  year  is  the  mission- 
ary census  year),  and  that  placed  the  native  Christian  population  of  India, 
including  Ceylon  and  British  Burinali,  at  300,000  souls.  No  regular  census 
has  been  taken  since,  but  certain  tables  of  statistics,  accurate  as  far  as  they 
go,  though  not  comprehensive,  have  been  compiled  by  a countryman  of 


yours,  of  whom  you  may  be  proud;  and  according  to  these  there  lias  been 
an  annual  increase  of  upward  of  9,000  souls  to  the  church.  Adding  to  the 
total  the  many  thousand  souls  gathered  in  during  the  recent  Madras  fam- 
ine season,  we  have  the  number  indicated  above,  viz:  450,000  Protestant 
native  Christians  in  India.  We  have  about  400  ordained  native  ministers 
and  about  4,000  preachers  and  teachers  of  all  grades,  in  various  parts  of  the 
country,  engaged  in  proclaiming  the  truth,  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  either  in  organ- 
ized churches,  or  in  thoroughfares,  and  market-places.  Add  to  this  the 
amount  of  apologetic  literature  that  has  been  raised  up,  and  of  the  religious 
knowledge  that  has  been  spread,  and  of  the  beneficial  influence  that  has 
been  exerted  through  the  various  departments  of  missionary  labor,  and  the 
result  cannot  but  appear  to  you  encouraging.  But  I leave  the  statistics  be- 
hind me,  and  proceed  to  speak  of  the  great  changes  I have  myself  noticed 
during  the  last  twenty-five  years  in  India. 

Observe  in  the  first  place  that  missionary  la  Dor  has  raised  bright  churches 
in  all  our  great  cities  and  towns,  and  in  not  a few  of  our  villages,  side  by 
side  with  Hindu  temples  and  Mahomedan  Mosques.  And  while  the  intiu, 
ence  proceeding  from  these  infant  churches  is  confessedly — that  is,  accord- 
ing to  to  the  confessions  of  Hindus  and  Mussulmans  themselves — on  the  in- 
crease; that  emanating  from  these  hoary  temples  and  mosques  is  obviously 
on  the  decline.  Let  me  illustrate  this  by  reference  to  what  I have  myself 
seen.  My  work  obliges  me  to  travel  a good  deal  in  India,  as  I have  been 
doing  in  your  country,  and  wherever  I go,  I have  the  satisfaction  of  attend- 
ing, and  very  frequently  speaking  in  a native  Christian  place  of  worship; 
and  I have  the  satisfaction,  moreover,  of  attending,  and  frequently  speaking 
in  a native  Christian  Sunday  School.  A few  months  before  I left  India  for 
your  country,  I visited  a place  called  Amritsir,  one  of  the  principal  cities 
of  the  Punjab,  a province  lying  to  the  northwest  of  India.  The  city  is  the 
strongLold  of  the  prevalent  religion  of  that  province,  the  religion  of  Nanak, 
a religion,  at  first  considered  by  the  Hindus  a heresy,  but  now  regarded  as 
part  and  parcel  of  Hinduism.  Nothing  shows  the  omnivorous  character  of 
Hinduism  more  thoroughly  than  the  rapidity  with  which  this  system  has 
been  devoured  by  it,  and  assimilated  to  its  nature.  Nanak  contemplated  a 
midway  reconciliation  between  Hinduism  and  Mahomedism,  by  means  of 
his  new  faith,  and  so  he  laid  the  foundation  of  a doctrine  the  most  hetero- 
geneous in  its  nature.  You  are  aware  that  no  two  religions  can  be  more 
diametrically  opposed  to  each  other  than  Hinduism  and  Mahomedism. 
The  one  is  literally  the  antipodes  of  the  other,  and  yet  this  reformer  thought 
it  practicable  to  reconcile  them  by  means  of  a mongrel  creed.  His  creed 
was  at  first  regarded  by  the  Hindus  as  a heresy.  It  is,  however,  now  looked 
upon  as  ahnost  an  essential  element  of  their  many-sided,  hydra-headed  sys- 
tem of  religion.  But  to  return — this  place  is  the  stronghold  of  his  follow- 


84 


ers,  for  it  contains  their  golden  temple.  This  temple  is  a very  elegant  struc- 
ture made  of  pure  marble,  standing  in  the  center  of  a large  reservoir,  which 
is  surrounded  by  an  embankment  of  stone  masonry.  The  temple  is  ap- 
proached by  a marble  causeway,  and  is  surmounted  by  a number  of  small 
domes  which  are  covered  by  thin  plates  of  gold.  When  I was  in  this  city,  I 
walked  out  one  morning  to  see  this  beautiful  temple — and  a6  I went  on,  I 
saw  groups  innumerable  of  men,  women  and  children  threading  their  way 
along  the  streets,  along  the  embankment  and  through  the  causeway  into  the 
temple.  What  were  they  doing  in  the  temple?  They  were  simply  prostrating 
themselves  before  an  open  book,  as  large  as  this  pulpit  Bible.  This  book  is 
kept  open  on  a silver  throne,  overhung  with  a canopy  of  embroidered  cloth 
from  four  in  the  morning  until  about  ten  in  the  night,  when  it  is  removed  to 
a neighboring  house,  where  a regular  bed  is  set  apart  for  it,  and  where  it  is 
supposed  to  sleep ! The  sight  was  to  me  sad— so  many  human  beings,  beings 
endowed  with  reason,  engaged  in  such  irrational  worship!  But  in  this  city,  I 
saw  another  sight  which  was  to  me  a source  of  very  great  consolation  indeed. 
I spent  a Sabbath  day  in  the  city,  and  on  the  evening  of  that  day  walked 
out  to  attend  the  Native  Christian  place  of  worship,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
city  wall,  and  as  I went  on  I saw  groups  of  native  Christians,  men,  women, 
and  children  in  their  Sunday  suits  threading  their  way  along  the  streets 
towards  their  place  of  worship.  I joined  one  of  these  groups,  and  after  a 
short  walk  found  myself  ushered  into  a substantial,  capacious  church, 
though  by  no  means  furnished  as  your  churches  are.  I saw  before  me  up- 
wards of  a hundred  persons,  men,  women,  and  children,  redeemed  from 
heathenism,  assembled  to  worship  Him  whom  you  worship  in  your  churches 
and  cathedrals.  In  one  side  of  the  church  I saw  a choir  of  native  Christian 
girls  seated  around  a harmonium,  and  on  the  pulpit  I saw  a native  Christian 
brother  about  to  begin  the  service.  The  opening  hymn  was  given,  the  choir 
raised  the  tune,  and  upwards  of  a hundred  voices,  voices  of  men,  women  and 
children  redeemed  from  heathen  degradation,  were  raised  in  joyous  and  ju- 
bilant adoration  of  the  Great  Redeemer  of  mankind;  and' when  the  prelim- 
inary portion  of  the  service  was  over,  the  native  brother,  in  the  pulpit,  deliv- 
ered a thrilling  discourse  on  the  love  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

I will  now  ask  you  to  follow  me  to  another  city.  On  the  banks  of  the 
river  Ganges,  one  of  the  sacred  streams  of  the  Hindus,  stands  a city  which 
Europeans  call  Benares,  but  our  countrymen,  Kashi.  Bishop  Heber,  in  his 
Journal,  says,  that  he  never  saw  a city  more  characteristically,  and  more 
thoroughly  oriental  than  Benares.  Its  narrow,  stone-paved  streets,  over- 
hung with  lofty  buildings  of  a peculiarly  antique  shape,  its  innumerable 
temples,  its  countless  gods  and  goddesses,  its  deep  sacred  walls,  and  its 
magnificent  flights  of  steps  descending  into  the  waters  of  the  holy  stream 
on  which  it  stands,  all  these  give  it  a peculiarly  oriental  character.  The 
most  magnificent  of  its  holy  temples  is  called  the  Golden  Temple  of  Bish- 


eshwer.  This  temple  is  uot  so  elegant  as  the  one  I have  described:  but  it 
is  in  some  respects  more  magnificent,  and  decidedly  more  honored  in  the 
Hindu  estimation.  It  consists  of  a central  hall  with  apartments  in  front  and 
rear,  ami  is  surmounted  by  a conical  dome,  and  a light  pavilion,  both  cov- 
ered with  thin  plates  of  gold.  In  one  of  the  front  apartments  you  might  see 
the  god  literally  sunk  in  a small  reservoir  of  water,  and  literally  buried  un- 
der a heap  of  Howers  of  all  colors  and  shades  of  colors.  As  there  is  a great 
deal  of  sentimentalism  abroad  is  this  land  with  reference  to  the  religions  of 
Asia,  I will  give  you  a glimpse  of  the  character  of  the  god  worshiped  in  this 
temple  by  myriads  of  enthusiastic  devotees.  And  fortunately  it  is  not  nec- 
essary for  me  to  theorize  on  his  character.  I have  simply  to  state  and  ex- 
plain a few  of  the  pet  names  which  the  Hindus  themselves  give  to  this  deity 
in  their  moments  of  devotional  enthusiasm.  They  call  him  Bhola,  which 
means,  “absent-minded.”  Now  why  is  this  god  called  the  absent-minded 
god?  Is  it  because  he  is  perpetually  wrapped  up  in  holy  thought  and 
sublime  contemplation?  No.  Is  it  because  he  is  perpetually  absorbed  in 
schemes  of  benevolence  and  philanthropy?  No.  He  is  called  the  absent- 
minded  god  because  he  is  perpetually  in  a state  of  intoxication.  He  drinks 
a solution  of  Indian  Hemp  which  you  know  is  an  intoxicating  drug,  and  he 
smokes  Indian  Hem;  and  it  is  because  he  is  perpetually  out  of  his  senses, 
that  he  is  called  the  absent-minded  god  by  his  devotees  in  their  moments  of 
pietic  extasy.  He  is,  moreover,  called  Bhpthnath,  which  means  the  chief 
of  ghosts,  because  in  moments  of  intoxication  he  loves  to  roam  about  in  se- 
questered places,  in  places  where  the  dead  are  cremated,  among  the  ruins  of 
ancient  temples  and  castles,  and  in  the  solitude  of  pathless  forests.  Such 
are  his  favorite  haunts,  while  his  companions  are  ghosts  and  hobgoblins. 
He  is  also  called  the  Yogee,  the  hermit,  because  he  appears  all  but  naked 
with  a piece  of  tiger  skin  thrown  carelessly  around  his  waist,  his  body  be- 
daubed with  dust  and  ashes,  his  hair  clotted,  and  a large  cobra  coiled  on 
his  head.  He  is  a fearful  thing  to  look  at,  and  he  is  called  Mahadeo,  or  the 
great  god,  and  under  various  names,  and  in  various  forms  he  is  worshiped 
from  one  end  of  India  to  the  other! 

Not  far  from  this  temple  stands  another,  only  inferior  to  it  in  magnificence 
and  sanctity.  This  temple  is  called  the  temple  of  Gopal.  I ask  the  ques- 
tion— what  character  does  the  god  worshiped  in  this  temple,  and  that  by 
myriads  of  enthusiastic  devotees,  bear?  In  this  case  as  in  the  former,  I have 
simply  to  state  and  explain  a few  of  the  pet  names  his  followers  give  him. 
They  call  him  Nanichok,  or  butter-stealing  god.  When  he  was  a little  boy, 
he  was  a little  rogue.  He  used  to  steal  butter,  cream,  sweets — in  a word,  he 
used  to  steal  whatever  he  could  lay  his  hands  upon.  Besides  he  used  to 
kick  up  rows  in  the  vicinity  of  his  house,  and  literally  made  the  place  too 
hot  for  his  poor  mother  to  live  in.  Another  of  the  names  given  him  is  Lam- 
pat,  a word  meaning  cunning,  but  in  this  connection  one  skilled  in  flirta- 


36 


tions.  When  this  little  rogue  became  a young  man,  he  developed  into  a 
profligate.  He  spent  his  life  amid  flirtations  with  a number  of  milk-women, 
and  kept  up  an  illicit  intercourse  with  the  wife  of  a man.  And  the  adulterer 
and  the  adultress  are  among  the  favorite  gods  worshiped  in  India,  and  I am 
sorry  to  add  that  I myself  was  their  worshiper  before  my  conversion. 

Such  are  the  gods  worshiped  in  India!  And  the  principles  professed  are 
if  possible  even  worse.  I have  no  time  to  dwell  on  them  now,  but  I may 
tell  you  that  one  of  the  fundumental  principles  of  Hinduism  is — God  is  the 
author  of  sin ! Travel  from  one  end  of  India  to  the  other,  from  Dan  to  Beer 
sheba,  and  you  will  not  come  across  a well-taught  Hindu  who  will  shrink 
from  the  responsibility  of  representing  God  as  the  author  of  all  his  sins  and 
misfortunes. 

A short  time  before  I left  India,  I accompanied  one  of  the  best  of  your 
missionaries,  Rev.  B.  H.  Badley,  my  kind-hearted  preacher  in  charge,  to  a 
fair,  where  we  preached  the  gospel  to  crowds  of  hearers.  One  of  these,  evi- 
dently a Brahmin,  stepped  forward  and  said  vociferously  that  God  was  lead- 
ing him  to  sin,  and  punishing  him  for  it.  He  had  the  the  audacity  to  say 
what  my  lips  quiver  to  repeat — he  said  that  if  he  could  only  catch  God  he 
would  give  him  a thrashing!  Such  are  the  gods  worshiped  and  such  the 
principles  professed!  And  yet  your  sentimental  philosophers  affirm  that  the 
difference  between  Christianity  and  Hinduism  is  only  a difference  of  degree, 
not  a difference  of  kind.  And  when  missionaries  refuse  to  accept  this  but- 
tered phraseology,  they  are  represented  as  a set  of  fanatics  and  bigots! 
There  is  an  eternal,  an  essential  difference  between  our  religion,  which  is 
God-given,  and  heathen  religions,  which  are  the  creations  of  the  evil  one. 

In  this  city,  the  citadel  and  stronghold  of  Hinduism,  missionary  labor  has 
raised  three  witnessing  churches,  one  belonging  to  the  church  mission  with 
a membership  of  about  200,  another  belonging  to  the  London  mission  with 
a membership  of  about  100,  and  the  third  belonging  to  the  Baptists  with  a 
membership  scarcely  less  considerable.  And  while  the  influence  proceed- 
ing from  these  ecclesiastical  establishments  is  obviously  on  the  increase,  that 
emanating  from  its  hoary  temples  is  apparently  on  the  decline.  I might 
take  you  from  city  to  city  and  present  similar  proofs  in  corroboration  of  ray 
position,  that  missionary  labor  has  raised  bright  churches  in  a country 
where  temples  of  worship  have  always  been  scenes  of  darkness  and  degra- 
dations. 

My  second  proposition  is  missionary  labor  has  raised  bright  homes  in  a 
country  where  the  very  idea  of  a home,  properly  so-called,  can  scarcely  be 
said  to  have  existed.  In  India  we  have  had  households,  aggregations  of 
people,  but  no  homes.  Where  women  are  degraded  as  they  are  in  India, 
forcibly  debarred  from  the  advantages  of  education,  or  completely  shut  out 
of  the  cheering  light  of  knowledge,  homes  cannot  exist.  One  of  the  many 
things  in  your  country  which  have  left  a favorable  impression  on  my  mind 


37 


is  the  joyousness  of  your  homes,  and  I need  not  tell  you  that  the  glory  of 
your  domestic  life  is  to  be  traced  to  the  exalted  position  to  which  Christian- 
ity has  raised  the  women  of  your  country.  It  is  because  they  have  been 
raised  to  the  position  they  are  intended  to  occupy  and  adorn,  that  your 
homes  are  sweet  and  joyous.  And  it  is  because  women  in  India  have  been 
kept  down  by  a cruel  system  of  superstition,  that  our  homes  have  been  for 
ages  dark  and  dreary.  But  Christianity  has  already  commenced  a reform 
in  India  in  this  direction.  I visited  a place  called  Allahabad  where  there  is 
a pretty  large  native  Christian  village.  The  occupants  of  the  village  are 
poor  people,  their  salaries  ranging  between  two  and  twenty-five  dollars  a 
month.  They  live  in  mud  houses;  but  I was  struck  by  the  appearance  of 
neatness  and  some  degree  of  refinement  which  these  presented — the  walls 
whitewashed,  the  floors  swept  and  garnished,  the  few  articles  in  each  house 
tastefully  arranged,  woman  in  her  proper  position,  and  children  clothed  and 
educated.  Now  compare  these  houses  with  those  of  the  community  from 
which  these  poor  native  Christians  have  been  separated,  a comparision  in- 
stituted between  them  and  the  houses  of  the  grandees  and  princes  of  India 
being  obviously  unfair.  The  Hindu  houses  of  their  order  are  abodes  of 
filth  and  squalor,  their  walls  rugged  and  unsightly,  their  floors  scarcely 
swept,  scarcely  an  article  of  furniture  properly  arranged,  woman  in  rags  and 
not  in  her  proper  position,  and  children  roaming  about  stark  naked  and 
going  without  education.  These  Christian  homes  are  not  merely  abodes  of 
neatness  and  refinement,  but  they  are  homes  of  piety  and  godliness.  1 spent 
a night  in  one  of  these  houses,  and  when  the  dinner  was  over  they  brought 
to  me  the  big  ha’  Bible,  and  I enjoyed  a season  of  prayer  with  them.  On 
inquiry  I found  that  family  prayer  was  kept  up  in  almost  all  these  houses — 
a thing  which  cannot  be  said  of  nine-tenths  of  the  homes  of  Christendom. 
Please  observe  that  these  are  by  no  means  the  highest  class  of  homes  which 
Christianity  has  raised  in  our  country.  From  these  you  rise  through  a 
gradation  of  homes  more  or  less  refined,  till  you  come  up  to  those  of  the  ed- 
ucated converts,  whose  minds  have  been  expanded  by  the  literature  which 
is  the  greatest  glory  of  your  land,  barring  your  religion,  and  let  me  tell  you 
that  these  are  not  very  far  behind  the  best  of  your  homes  in  elegance  and 
refinement. 

Christian  civilization  is  making  progress  in  India  in  spite  of  obstacles 
thrown  in  its  way  even  by  those  whose  duty  it  is  to  push  it  forward  most 
vigorously.  It  is  not  perceived,  as  it  should  be,  that  in  these  days  when 
miracles  cannot  be  summoned  to  our  aid,  Christianity  cannot  display  its 
superiority  over  the  other  religions  of  the  world,  except  through  the  tri- 
umphs of  the  civilization  to  which  it  has  given  birth.  An  unbeliever  can- 
not see  the  great  change  it  effects  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  human  heart,  and 
if  Christianity  had  nothing  externally  grand  to  appeal  to,  its  claims  would 
be  disallowed.  And  consequently  when  its  advocates  try  to  detach  it  from 


38 


the  miracles  of  progress  with  which  it  is  connected,  they  separate  it  from 
the  only  realities  by  which  its  divine  origin  can  be  proved  to  a demonstra- 
tion. If  native  Christians  in  India  remained  after  their  conversion  as  de- 
cidedly sunk  in  semi-barbarous  stagnation  as  their  countrymen  generally 
are,  they  could  scarcely  be  a city  set  on  a hill,  and  attract  their  coun- 
trymen towards  their  adopted  faith.  And  consequently  those  who  throw 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  their  adopting  the  amenities  and  refinements  of  civ- 
ilized life  are  literally  checking  the  progress  of  our  religion  in  our  country. 

My  third  proposition  is — Christianity  has  raised  bright  hearts  in  a coun- 
try where  the  human  heart  has  for  ages  been  a scene  of  darkness  and  de- 
spair. You  can  scarcely  have  an  adequate  conception  of  the  condition  of  the 
human  apart  from  Christ  till  you  go  to  a heathen  land.  Dr.  Fowler,  in  a 
splendid  sermon  at  Ocean  Grove,  said  that  he  could  with  a dozen  cutthroats 
in  America  get  up  a church  better  than  one  could  with  a dozen  of  the  most 
enlightened  men  of  a heathen  land.  In  one  sense  this  is  true, — your  cut- 
throats and  blackguards  have  in  consequence  of  gospel  light  brighter  views 
of  God  and  human  duty  than  our  philosophers;  while  your  axioms  are 
mighty  problems  in  our  land.  One  feature  of  my  work  is  house-to-house 
visitation.  I get  up  every  morning,  visit  a few  of  my  countrymen,  and  try  to 
remind  them  of  the  awful  claims  of  eternity.  One  morning  I walked  out, 
and  as  I entered  a narrow  lane  I saw  a man,  apparently  very  ill,  seated  on  a 
piece  of  blanket,  spread  over  a veranda.  I made  up  my  mind  to  have  a little 
talk  with  him.  I walked  up  to  him  and  introduced  myself  as  a preacher  of 
the  gospel,  anxious  to  have  a little  religious  conversation  with  him.  He 
ordered  a seat  for  me,  not  being  able  to  ask  me  to  sit  down  on  the  piece  of 
blanket  on  which  he  was  seated  without  pointing  himself.  I began  conver- 
sation by  saying  “Kir,  you  lock  very  ill;  what  is  the  matter  with  you  ?” 
He  replied,  “Oh  I have  been  very  ill,  and  I belive  the  hour  of  my  departure 
is  at  hand.”  I said,  “I  pray  God  may  restore  you  to  health;  but  supposing 
you  die,  what  will  become  of  you?”  “What  will  become  of  me!”  he  said, 
“that  question  can  never  be  settled  on  this  side  the  grave.”  He  paused  for 
a moment,  and  then  corrected  himself,  saying,  “Did  I say  that  question 
could  never  be  settled,  it  has  been  settled-  I have  sinned,  and  punished  I 
shall  be;  no  power,  not  even  Omnipotence,  can  deliver  me  from  merited 
punishment.”  This  man  was,  with  the  calmness  of  despair,  looking  forward 
to  future  punishment,  and  I have  come  across  many  in  the  sad  predicament 
in  which  he  was.  When  Bishop  Andrews  visited  India,  a love  feast  was 
held  at  Bareilly  in  which  about  a hundred  preachers  and  teachers  were 
present  to  listen  to  the  Bishop’s  exhortation.  Many  of  these  workers  de- 
clared in  tones  of  unmistakable  sincerety,  that  though  they  had  sinned  and 
gone  astray,  they  were  looking  forward  to  an  eternity  of  bliss  through  the 
blood  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  There  are  to-day  innumerable  hearts  in 
India  instinct  with  Christian  vitality,  radiant  with  Christian  joy,  and  buoy- 


ant  with  the  sure  hope  of  the  gospeL 

My  last  position  is — Christianity  has  already  begun  in  India  the  work  of 
sending  glorified  souls  to  Heaven.  It  has  not  merely  raised  bright  places  of 
worship,  bright  homes,  and  bright  hearts,  in  a country  full  of  spiritual  dark- 
ness, but  it  has  peopled  Heaven  with  its  converts  gathered  therein.  When 
I was  a boy  in  Calcutta,  a young  man  of  an  exceedingly  amiable  disposition 
embraced  Christianity,  and  served  with  distinction  as  a preacher  of  the  gos- 
pel. The  Lord,  however,  thought  fit  to  remove  him  to  a higher  sphere  of 
usefulness.  The  young  man  had  consumption,  and  for  a time  he  lingered 
between  life  and  death  under  the  hospitable  roof  of  his  kindhearted  mis- 
sioary  teacher.  But  when  he  was  cautiously  assured  that  he  was  dying,  be- 
ing too  feeble  to  sing,  he  repeated  the  hymn  beginning  with 
The  hour  of  my  departure’s  come, 

I hear  the  voice  that  calls  me  home. 

Now  oh!  my  God,  let  trouble  cease, 

And  let  thy  servant  die  in  peace. 

With  the  sentiment  of  this  grand  hymn  in  his  heart  the  young  man  passed 
into  glory  through  the  portals  of  death.  When  I was  at  Benares,  I was 
awakened  one  night  at  about  12  o’clock,  and  desired  to  see  a dying  friend.  I 
hastened  into  the  death  chamber,  and  found  my  friend  seated  on  his  bed, 
supported  by  two  of  his  companions.  When  I entered  the  room  I heard  him 
distinctly  offering  up  this  prayer — “O  Lord  Jesus,  receive  me,  even  me!”  He 
went  on  repeating  the  same  prayer  until  he  died.  When  I was  at  Shanje- 
hanpore,  serving  as  head  master  of  our  orphanage  school,  I visited  a young 
man  suffering  from  consumption  daily  for  about  a month.  One  morning,  as 
I was  drinking  tea  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Buck,  in  charge  of  the  establishment, 
two  of  the  kindest  friends  I have  in  this  world,  a student  ran  into  the  room, 
and  speaking  to  me,  said — “the  patient  wishes  to  see  you.”  Both  Mr.  Buck 
and  myself  hastened  into  his  room.  When  he  saw  us,  he  smiled  sweetly,  and 
stretching  forth  his  hand,  said— “I  wish  to  shake  hands  with  you  before  go- 
ing to  my  Father  in  Heaven.  What  day  of  the  week  is  this?”  We  said — - 
“Saturday.”  “What  hour  of  the  day?”  We  said — “about  nine  o’clock.” 
He  said — “I  am  very  glad  it  is  Saturday;  to-morrow,  on  the  blessed  Sab- 
bath morning,  I shall  be  with  my  Father  in  Heaven.”  The  young  man  died 
on  the  following  morning,  at  about  2 o’clock.  These  instances  are  enough 
to  show  that  Christianity  has  already  begun  in  India  the  work  of  sending  up 
glorified  souls  to  Heaven. 

Put  these  results  together — the  bright  places  of  worship,  the  bright  homes, 
and  the  innumerable  bright  hearts  it  has  raised  in  India,  and  the  glorified 
souls  it  has  sent  up  from  India,  and  missionary  labor  will  not  appear  to  you 
a failure.  The  success  attained,  when  contemplated  in  connection  with  your 
cost  of  money  and  men,  cannot  but  be  pronounced  brilliant;  but  when  con- 
templated in  connection  with  what  has  yet  to  be  done,  it  appears  insignifi- 
cant indeed.  About  450,000  souls  have  been  gathered  out  of  a population 


40 


of  240,000,000  of  souls — a drop  in  a bucket.  Nor  do  I consider  myself  at 
liberty  to  hold  out  hopes  of  the  speedy  evangelization  of  my  country.  India 
will  not  be  converted  by  magic  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  When  the  tele- 
graph wires  were  being  first  moimted  in  India,  some  of  our  countrymen  were 
engaged,  in  convocation  assembled,  in  divining  their  meaning;  and  when  the 
assembly  were  at  its  wit’s  end,  a sage  stood  up  and  with  an  air  of  triumph, 
offered  the  needed  explanation.  He  said— “When  this  system  is  completed, 
government  will  pull  the  wire  and  the  whole  country  will  be  christianized!” 
There  are  some  Christian  preachers  in  India  now  whose  opinions  are  not  less 
ludicrous.  These  persons  think  that  if  a number  of  good  churches  are  raised 
among  nominal  Christians,  their  appearance  will  christianize  the  country 
with  miraculous  rapidity.  My  belief  is,  that  a century  of  systematic  labor, 
carried  on  by  trained  workers,  will  be  needed  to  render  the  missionary 
enterprise  a success  in  India.  You  have  a vast  work  before  you,  and  the 
sacrifices  you  will  be  called  upon  to  make  are  great  indeed.  But  you  mil 
not  be  losers.  The  law  of  Christian  progress  is — in  proportion  as  you  raise 
others,  you  raise  yourselves.  You  have  colored  people  in  your  country,  and 
you  owe  them  a great  deal.  Keep  them  down  by  artificial  means  and  you 
keep  yourselves  down.  The  worst  effects  of  slavery  in  your  country  were 
exhibited  not  in  the  slave  but  in  the  master;  and  the  worst  effects  of  partial 
legislation  in  India  are  to-day  exhibited  in  its  European  and  East  Indian 
population,  rather  than  in  its  native  races.  Raise  the  down-trodden  nations 
of  the  world,  and  you  raise  yourselves.  And  in  proportion  as  you  raise  these 
races,  in  that  degree  do  you  raise  your  own  selves.  And  so  the  blessed  enter- 
prise in  which  you  are  engaged  will  leave  you  gainers  and  not  losers. 


LECTURE  V. 

EXPERIENCE. 


I was  born  and  brought  up  in  a Hindu  home.  When  a child  and  a boy, 
I saw  Hinduism  embodied  in  various  forms.  T saw  Hinduism  embodied  in 
temples  more  or  less  grand,  in  gods  and  goddesses  more  or  less  ugly,  in  cer- 
emonial observances  of  various  kinds,  and  in  a grand  series  of  festivals  and 
fetes.  I saw  the  power  of  the  national  faith  of  the  Hindus  in  the  austeri- 
ties and  penances  practiced  by  our  religious  mendicants,  and  its  cruelty  in 
the  treatment  to  which  our  widows  are  subjected.  But  1 was  not  instructed, 
rooted  and  groimded,  in  the  principles  and  maxims  of  Hinduism.  My  pa- 
rents were  very  anxious  to  educate  me  in  fact,  I could  not  do  without  edu- 
cation. I belong  to  one  of  those  castes  called  in  India  the  literary  castes; 
and  men  in  our  caste  have  literally  to  choose  between  starvation  and  educa- 


11 


tion.  They  cannot,  earn  their  livelihood  by  the  labor  of  their  hands,  as  me- 
chanics or  as  artizans,  ■without  bringing  disgrace  upon  themselves,  their 
families  and  their  castes.  And  often  would  our  guardians  speak  tons  boys, 
in  some  such  strain  as  tins— they  would  say:  “Remember!  you  belong  to 
our  family  and  our  caste,  and  you  cannot  earn  your  livelihood  as  carpenters 
or  as  blacksmiths  without  bringing  disgrace  upon  yourselves  and  us,  and  our 
forefathers  of  blessed  memory;  educate  yourselves,  and  so  be  ornaments  to 
the  respectable  society  to  w hich  you  belong.”  They  were  then  very  anxious 
to  educate  me;  but  in  their  schemes  for  my  intellectual  advancement,  they 
fell  into  the  mistake  of  throwing  religion  into  the  background,  as  many 
Christians  unhappily  do.  But  their  mistake  was  a blessing  to  me,  inasmuch 
as  the  wretched  principles  of  Hinduism  cannot  but  demoralize  the  parties 
into  whose  minds  they  are  early  instilled. 

I was  at  first  sent,  along  with  my  cousin,  of  whom  I shall  have  occasion 
to  speak,  to  a vernacular  school  opened  in  Calcutta,  by  one  of  our  educated 
countrymen;  and,  after  I had  finished  my  course  therein,  I was  sent  to  an 
English  school,  and  that  school  happened  to  be  the  great  institution  opened 
by  the  Prince  of  Indian  Missionaries,  Dr.  Duff,  and  removed  to  my  neigh- 
borhood, in  consequence  of  the  disruption  which  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
Free  Church  of  Scotland.  In  this  college,  I was  initiated  into  the  mysteries 
of  the  English  language;  and  I had  not  made  much  progress  in  the  litera- 
ture and  science  enshrined  in  it,  ere  I completely  lost  my  faith  in  Hinduism. 
The  modus  opebandi  was  simple  enough.  Hinduism  is  indissolubly  asso- 
ciated with  a body  of  false  science  which  is  represented  by  its  champions  as 
part  and  parcel  of  its  revelation.  Christianity  does  not  profess  to  teach 
science,  and  so  it  makes  use  of  scientific  terms  in  their  ordinary  acceptation, 
not  in  their  scientific  sense — but  the  sacred  books  of  the  Hindus  do  profess 
to  teach  science  as  well  as  religion;  and  the  science  they  teach  is,  according 
to  them,  as  decidedly  revealed  as  the  form  of  faith  embodied  in  them.  Con- 
sequently, Hinduism  stands  or  falls  with  the  science  with  which  it  is  insep- 
arably connected.  Now  no  science  can  be  more  obviously,  more  egregiously 
false  than  that  embodied  in  its  sacred  books.  They,  for  instance,  teach  that 
the  earth  is  flat,  somewhat  like  the  water-lily  with  its  petals  turned  towards 
its  centre;  and  as  soon  as  a little  boy  learns  in  an  English  school  that  the 
earth  is  round  like  an  orange,  his  faith  in  Hinduism  is  shaken.  They  teach, 
moreover,  that  there  is  a mountain  od  the  surface  of  the  globe  higher  than 
the  sun.  moon,  and  stars,  and  that  the  succession  of  day  and  night  is  caused 
by  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies  from  one  of  its  sides  to  the  other; 
and  as  soon  a boy  is  assured  that  this  mountain  is  a myth,  his  hereditary 
faith  totters.  Again,  they  teach  that  there  are  seven  concentric  oceans  on 
the  surface  of  the  globe,  one  of  salt  water,  one  of  fresh  water,  one  of  sugar- 
cane juice,  one  of  milk,  etc.;  and  as  soon  as  a boy  obtains  an  insight  into 
the  dreamy  character  of  this  piece  of  geographical  information,  he  be- 


gins  to  despise  the  religion  of  his  country.  His  lispings  in  science  prove 
the  glaring  absurdity  of  Hindnism.  Even  the  little  correct  knowledge  I re- 
ceived in  the  lower  classes  of  the  Free  Church  Institution  was  enough,  not 
merely  to  shake  my  inherited  faith,  but  to  breed  in  my  heart  a positive  con- 
tempt of  Hinduism. 

Nowhere  is  the  destructive  portion  of  missionary  work  done  so  thoroughly 
as  in  English  schools.  Government  schools  are  based  on  the  boasted  prin- 
ciple of  neutrality,  and  the  teachers  in  connection  with  them  are  strictly 
directed  not  to  interfere  with  the  beliefs  of  their  pupils.  But  the  neu- 
trality is  a dream  and  the  order  a dead  letter!  However  loyal  the  teachers 
may  be  to  the  principles  of  the  public  service,  the  inevitable  result  of  their 
labors  is  the  destruction  of  the  Hindu  faith.  The  pupils  under  the  tuition 
or  training  lose  their  faith  as  naturally  and  as  certainly  ns  sparks  tly  up- 
wards! But  government  destroys,  does  not  construct, — destroys  a corrupt 
belief,  but  does  not  substitute  for  it  a better  faith.  Nay,  we  may  justly 
bring  against  it  the  serious  charge  of  lending  its  aid  towards  the  propaga- 
tion of  varied  forms  of  infidelity  and  scepticism.  The  constructive  work, 
however,  is  done  in  Mission  schools,  the  importance  of  which,  both  as  antidotes 
to  the  poison  spread  by  Government  schools,  and  as  instruments  of  Christian 
propagandism,  can  not  be  over-rated.  How  is  it  done  ? In  the  very  best 
way  conceivable, — by  the  systematic  teaching  of  the  Bible,  and  suitable 
books  on  the  evidences  of  Christianity.  The  Bible  occupies  the  most  prom- 
inent place  in  the  curriculum  of  the  Mission  school,  and  all  other  studies 
are  made  by  its  Christian  teachers  subservient  to  it.  History,  Philosophy, 
and  even  Geography,  are  compelled,  as  it  were,  to  contribute,  each  its  own 
quota,  towards  this  central  study;  and  if  the  necessity  of  employing  non- 
Christian  teachers  could  be  obviated,  as  it  would  in  time  be,  Mission 
schools  would  develop,  not  merely  into  the  mightiest  ngencies  known  for 
the  propagation  of  our  faith  in  India,  but  into  theological  institutions 
worthy  of  being  ranked  with  the  schools  of  the  prophets  of  ancient  times. 

Excuse  this  digression.  I was  not  merely  early  taught  in  the  principles 
of  correct  science,  but  in  the  truths  of  Christianity.  No  system  could  be 
more  complete,  more  symmetrical,  better  fitted  to  bring  about  the  end  con- 
templated, than  what  was  carried  out  by  Dr.  Dull'  in  his  institution. 
Christianity  was  carefully  taught  even  in  the  lower  classes  through  the  in- 
strumentality of  the  elementary  books,  culled  Instructors,  which  he  had  him- 
self compiled  with  the  help  of  his  colleagues;  and  even  such  a book  ns  a 
rudimentary  treatise  on  Geography  was  made  fitted  to  teach  precious  Chris- 
tian truths.  A more  thoroughly  Christian  course  of  training  can  not  be 
conceived;  and  I look  upon  my  being  brought  up  under  it  ns  one  of  the 
greatest  blessings  of  my  life.  The  elementary  books  on  literature,  history 
and  even  geography,  left  on  my  mind  a favorable  impression  regarding 
Christianity;  while  the  reading  of  the  Bible  and  some  small  pamphlets  on 


the  evidences  of  our  religion,  led  me  almost  imperceptibly  to  a recogni- 
tion of  its  divine  origin.  I remember  an  incident  of  my  life,  which  is  fitted 
to  set  forth  the  truth  of  the  oft-quoted  saying,  that  to  an  unprejudiced  mind 
the  Bible  is  its  own  evidence.  I could  not  rend  the  Gospels  without  being 
convinced  of  the  exalted  purity  and  excellence  of  the  character  of  our  Lord; 
and  when  alone  in  a dark  room  I read  the  chapter  of  Matthew,  which  graph- 
ically describes  the  crucifixion  of  Christ,  my  whole  body  shook  and  trembled; 
and  I felt  as  if  a great  crime  were  being  committed  under  my  eyes.  I be- 
lieve the  Holy  Ghost  then  for  the  first  time  manifested  His  power  within  me. 

To  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of  Christianity  is  one  thing,  and  to  embrace 
it,  especially  in  a country  like  India,  is  another.  I could  not  act  up  to  my 
convictions  without  forsaking  my  home,  parents,  brothers,  sisters,  and  every- 
body near  and  dear  to  me;  and  the  tremendous  sacrifice  before  me  made 
me  stagger.  People  here  scarcely  know  what  the  simple  word, baptism, means 
in  India: — A respectable  Hindu  baptised  is  shunned,  not  only  by  society 
at  large,  but  even  by  his  own  parents,  who  consider  it  pollution  to  touch 
him;  while  the  very  wife  of  his  bosom,  and  his  own  children,  naturally  re- 
coil from  his  loving  embrace  or  touch.  A short  time  after  my  baptism,  I 
saw  some  of  my  female  relations,  who  had  come  to  the  house  of  a common 
friend  to  see  my  cousin  and  myself, — entrance  into  our  own  house  being 
peremptorily  denied  us.  They  had  with  them  a little  boy,  of  whom  I was 
fond,  he  being  the  eldest  child  of  a beloved  cousin  of  mine.  As  soon  as  I 
saw  him,  I instinctively  stretched  out  my  hands  to  lift  him  up  and  caress 
him;  but,  though  about  five  years  old,  he  was  true  to  the  caste  principles  in- 
stilled into  his  mind,  and  he  shrank  from  my  embrace,  stating,  “Uncle!  you 
have  corrupted  yourself  and  I will  not  touch  you!” 

Though  disinclined  on  the  whole  to  prove  true  to  my  religious  convictions, 
I was  very  fond  of  attending  the  lectures  on  Christian  topics  which  our 
missionary  teachers  and  others  used  to  deliver  in  the  two  great  missionary 
schools  of  Calcutta,  our  own  and  the  General  Assembly’s,  at  some  distance 
from  my  house.  One  night,  I was  returning  with  my  cousin,  Babu  Bhubun 
Mohon  Bose,  from  a lecture  in  the  latter  institution;  we  were  overtaken  by  a 
storm,  which  combined  with  the  sentiments  of  the  discourse  we  had  listened 
to  in  solemnizing  our  minds;  and  we  went  on  absorbed  in  profitable  medi- 
tation. My  cousin,  who  had  even  in  boyhood  evinced  an  irresistible  ten- 
dency to  a religious  life, — who  had  ofbeai  in  my  presence  given  to  the  poor 
the  cents  given  him  by  his  mother  for  lunch, — broke  the  silence,  saying, 
“Our  listening  to  these  lectures  is  vain,  if  we  do  not  act  up  to  our  convic- 
tions.” This  saying  led  to  a talk,  the  result  of  which  was  we  returned  home, 
entered  a private  room,  and  for  the  first  time  in  our  lives  prayed  to  the  God 
of  the  Christians.  We  engaged  in  secret  prayer  apart  from  one  another,  he 
in  one  comer  and  I in  another  of  the  room,  not  being  enlightened  enough 
to  see  the  advantage  of  united  prayer.  I showed  a tendency  to  backslide 


44 


subsequently,  but  my  cousiu,  always  more  earnest,  and  less  prone  to  go  to 
the  bad,  kept  stirring  me  up,  and  so  preventing  me  from  sliding  down  into 
moral  ruin.  There  were  some  other  young  men,  convinced  as  we  were,  and 
drawn  like  ourselves  towards  a public  profession  of  Christianity;  and  we  all 
used  to  meet,  converse  on  religious  subjects,  and  read  such  books  as  James’ 
Anxious  Inquirer.  But  before  our  interview  with  the  young  men,  I had, 
on  a dark  night  while  returning  from  a lecture  in  our  own  institution,  some 
talk  with  the  lecturer  himself,  the  Bev.  Thomas  Smith,  D.  I).,  the  only  sur- 
viving member  of  the  illustrious  band  of  my  teachers;  and  I look  upon  this 
earnest  conversation,  begun  by  him  with  the  question — “Boy ! do  you  un- 
derstand what  I say  in  these  lectures?” — as  one  of  the  agencies  employed 
by  God  to  bring  me  to  the  right  decision.  My  cousin  and  myself  finally 
made  up  our  minds  to  embrace  Christianity,  and  we  wrote  to  the  late  Rev. 
Dr.  Ewart,  the  father,  counsellor  and  friend  of  the  Bengal  Free  Church 
expressing  our  determination  to  do  so.  The  doctor,  however,  did  not  reply 
or  invite  us  to  a private  talk,  evidently  deeming  it  advisable  to  leave  us  to 
ourselves.  This  is  one  of  the  many  instances  which  may  be  advanced,  to 
show  that  missionaries  are  not  after  mere  baptisms,  and  that  as  a rule  they 
satisfy  themselves  as  to  the  sincerity  of  inquirers  before  encouraging  them 
at  all.  Without,  however,  awaiting  his  reply,  excepting  for  a few  days,  we 
left  home  one  evening  and  took  refuge  in  the  mission  house,  where  we  were 
kindly  received,  and  where  we  received  a very  kind  letter  from  Dr.  Ewart. 
We  had  then  our  trial,  but  before  I allude  to  it,  let  me  say  that  two  of  the 
other  young  men,  brothers  in  faith  as  well  as  in  blood,  followed  our  exam- 
ple, and  came  to  the  mission  house.  Their  male  relations  came  to  persuade 
them  to  go  back,  but  they  continued  firm.  Then  their  mother  came  in  a 
palanquin,  and  meeting  them  in  a private  room,  raised  such  lamentations, 
as  were  fitted  to  break  the  stony  heart,  and  as  ultimately  shook  their  con- 
stancy. They  went  back,  and  I have  never  seep  or  heard  of  them  since, 
though  my  heart  has  often  yearned  for  them.  Our  male  relations  came  and 
did  their  best  to  persuade  us  to  go  back;  but  as  our  caste  was  too  high  to 
admit  of  our  female  relations  coming  to  see  us  even  in  covered  palanquins, 
we  were  not  exposed  to  the  unutterably  great  trial  through  which  these  two 
persons  could  not  pass  unscathed.  Our  trial  over,  wt>  were  baptized  by  the 
Rev.  W.  S.  Mackay,  D.  1).,  in  the  Free  Church,  Calcutta,  on  July  16th,  1851. 
My  cousin  has  been  a consistent  Christian  ever  since,  and  is  now  a father  in 
Israel,  a pillar  of  the  native  church.  He  is  working  in  the  vineyard  of  the 
Lord  as  head  master  of  the  mission  school  under  the  charge  of  the  Rev. 
David  Herron,  whose  name  is  mentioned  with  respect  in  India,  and  ought  to 
be  in  America,  as  I have  again  and  again  said  in  your  churches.  He  has 
communicated  the  greatest  impetus  to  female  education  in  India  by  prepar- 
ing a girl  for  the  entrance  examination  of  the  Calcutta  University,  removing 
all  obstacles  out  of  her  way,  and  sending  her  up  with  success  commensurate 


to  the  energy  and  enthusiasm  with  which  he  had  begun  and  carried  fonvard 
a work  which  has  opened  in  the  history  of  female  education  a new  era  in 
India.  This  girl  is  the  eldest  daughter  of  my  cousin,  and  she  is  now  pre- 
paring herself  for  the  higher  examinations  with  the  enthusiasm  with  which 
young  ladies  in  America  scale  the  hill  of  science. 

With  reference  to  my  own  self,  I have  a sad  tale  to  tell,  I strove  to  lead  a 
Christian  life,  but  in  reality  I oscillated  between  some  sin  or  other  and  mo- 
ments of  devotional  earnestness.  I would  go  on  in  sin  for  a time,  and  then 
strive  earnestly  to  mend,  trusting  more  in  my  own  strength  than  in  aid  from 
on  high.  Failure  would  drive  me  back  to  sin,  and  sin  wonld  drive  me  back 
to  renewed  efforts  to  effect  my  deliverance.  My  religion  during  these  long 
years  was  like  that  of  the  man  whose  niece  said— “I  hope  my  uncle  will  not 
die  in  the  cold  season  when  he  loses  his  religion ! ” But  the  time  came  when 
I lost  every  vestige  of  my  respectability,  and  falling  a victim  to  the  vice  of  in- 
temperance, d|d  things  of  which,  if  I had  been  forewarned,  I would  have 
said — “Is  thy  servant  a dog?”  When  the  Methodist  missionaries  found  me, 
I was  sunk  in  the  depths  of  vice.  I state  sober  truth  when  I say  that  I have 
yet  to  see  a man  of  my  position  in  society,  which  in  India  is  considered 
respectable,  and  of  my  education,  which  in  India  is  considered  fair,  going 
down  so  low  as  I did.  These  missionaries  kindly  set  men  to  watch  me,  and 
after  I had  given  up  drinking  for  a few  days,  they  invited  me  to  their  revival 
meetings;  and  although  I was  the  first  person  to  step  forward  when  sinners 
were  called  to  the  altar,  my  want  of  faith,  combined  with  a latent  antago- 
nism to  the  theory  of  instantaneous  conversion,  made  my  advance  fruitless 
for  a time.  Besides,  I fell  into  the  mistake  of  looking  for  a particular  type 
of  illumination,  and  particular  phases  of  religious  power  in  operation  within 
my  heart.  But  the  Lord’s  time  was  approaching.  When  the  kind-hearted 
missionaries  were  thinking  of  giving  me  up  as  a hopeless  case,  I received  in 
a private  meeting  what  I had  failed  to  attain  in  so  many  public  meetings. 
The  meeting  was  a class  meeting  held  in  the  Ladies’  Mission  Home  at  Luck- 
now, under  the  leadership  of  l)r.  Thoburn,  who  desired  us  all  to  be  engaged 
in  secret  prayer  before  the  commencement  of  its  business.  I heartily 
responded  to  this  call,  and  when  the  rich  talk  was  in  progress,  the  story  of 
Paul’s  conversion  was  presented  to  my  mind  by  the  Spirit  of  God  in  a new 
light,  and  I said  to  myself — here  is  an  example  of  instantaneous  conversion ! 
But  the  thought  that  Paul  had  elements  of  character  the  very  reverse  of 
those  I could  boast  of,  was  beginning  to  damp  my  hopes,  when  Dr.  Tho- 
bum  was  led  by  some  remark  of  a brother  to  repeat  the  words — “My  yoke  is 
easy  and  my  burden  is  light.”  The  whole  passage  of  which  this  is  the  con- 
cluding verse,  the  passage  beginning  with — “Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor 
and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I will  give  you  rest” — came  back  to  mind  with  pe- 
culiar power,  and  I felt  some  holy  influence  at  work  within  me.  I returned 
home,  and  tried  to  sleep  off  the  impression,  but  I could  not  sleep.  I believe 


I slept  only  a few  minutes,  then  got  up,  and  after  a long  season  of  separa- 
tion from  God,  knelt  down  and  prayed.  While  earnestly  engaged  in  this  ex- 
ercise, I felt  as  if  I saw  these  words  of  Christ — “Come  unto  me  all  ye  that 
labor,  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I will  give  you  rest” — written  in  large,  illu- 
minated characters  before  me.  The  vision  is  now  before  me  as  vividly  as  it 
was  then  presented;  and  I have  no  doubt  but  that  a supernatural  power 
and  influence  drew  my  heart  towards  God.  Ever  since  that  night,  about 
eight  years  ago,  I have  been  consciously  serving  God,  as  I was  before  con- 
sciously serving  sin  and  Satan.  The  missionaries  instrumental  in  bringing 
me  back  to  the  proper  path  are  Dr.  Thoburn,  and  Messrs.  Cunningham  and 
Craven;  while  Mr.  Knowles  had  previously  striven  to  do  me  good.  When 
myself  and  family  were  in  the  lowest  depths  of  degradation,  three  of  the 
agents  of  the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  Miss  Swain,  Mrs. 
Waugh,  then  Miss  Tinsley,  and  Miss  Rowe,  one  of  the  sweetest  Christians  I 
have  ever  seen  in  my  lifetime,  visited  and  prayed  with  us;  while  Miss  Tho- 
burn has  been  the  kindest  friend  of  my  family  ever  since  the  day  of  the 
commencement  of  my  acquaintance  with  her.  My  heart  overflows  with 
gratitude,  and  often  my  eyes  are  bedewed  with  tears  when  I think  of  their 
kindness,  in  conjunction  with  that  shown  me  by  the  Free  Church  mission- 
aries, at  whose  feet  I was  brought  up,  by  the  London  Missionaries  of  Ben- 
ares under  whom  I served  for  nearly  ten  years,  and  by  almost  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  North  India  Conference,  my  fathers  and  older  brethren  in  exper- 
ence  and  piety,  if  not  in  years.  But  I am  under  peculiar  obligations  to  my 
beloved  parents  in  the  faith,  the  Rev.  James  and  Mrs.  Kennedy,  who  have 
watched  my  spiritual  interests  during  the  last  twenty-five  years  vdth  pater- 
nal solicitude,  who  have  maintained  an  instructive  correspondence  with  me 
during  this  long  period,  and  in  whose  heart  I occupy  together,  of  course, 
with  a few  other  converts,  a place  not  far  from  that  occupied  by  their  own 
children  and  beloved  relations.  May  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  bless  all  these 
kind  friends,  and  console  the  widow  and  children  of  the  late  Rev.  M.  A. 
Sherring,  who  would  not  abandon  me  in  my  worst  days. 

I was  then  a government  official,  occupying  a pretty  respectable  situation 
in  the  education  department;  but  I was  afraid  to  go  back  to  my  post,  and 
the  head  mastership  of  our  school  at  Shajehanpore  being  offered  me  by  l)r. 
Johnson  and  Mr.  Buck,  I accepted  it,  and  attached  myself  thoroughly  to 
the  Methodist  Mission.  At  Shajehanpore,  under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Buck,  who  treated  me  as  a brother,  rather  than  a subordinate,  I spent 
three  of  the  best  years  of  my  life,  working  both  as  a Christian  teacher  and 
as  an  exliorter.  Here  I commenced  that  work  to  which  I ultimately  felt 
called  upon  to  devote  myself  unreservedly,  the  work  of  preaching  the  gospel 
to  my  educated  countrymen  by  means  of  public  lectures  and  private  visita- 
tion. Over  and  above  my  school  work  and  that  in  the  orphanage,  I deliv- 
ered courses  of  lectures,  with  the  help  of  Messrs.  Buck,  Knowles,  and  Bud- 


don,  a generous-hearted,  pious  young  man,  high  in  government  employ,  who 
is  one  of  my  kindest  friends,  and  the  late  Mr.  Brown,  whose  widow  is  to  ns 
a bright  example  of  cheerful  resignation  in  bereavement  and  .adversity. 
From  Shajehanpore  I was  transferred  to  Moradabad,  where  under  the  gui- 
dance of  Mr.  Parker  and  Mr.  M’Grew,  by  whom  I was  treated  with  marked 
kindness,  I served  one  year  more  as  a teacher  and  local  preacher.  Here, 
also,  courses  of  lectures  were  delivered,  with  their  assistance,  for  the  benefit 
of  the  educated  community,  lectures  which  were  crowned,  as  it  were,  by  one 
delivered  in  a crowded  house  by  Bishop  Andrews.  I was,  however,  called 
to  give  up  teaching,  and  devote  myself  wholly  to  this  work,  which  6eemed 
to  grow  around  me.  I resigned  my  head-mastership,  and  secured  a house 
at  Lucknow,  trusting  the  Lord  would  help  me,  and  bring  me  support  from 
some  quarter.  And  I was  not  disappointed.  A preachership  became  prov- 
idently vacant,  and  my  kind-hearted  missionary  friends,  under  the  direction 
of  Bishop  Andrews,  offered  it  to  me;  and  I left  Moradabad  and  began  my 
work  at  Lucknow. 

I have  been  doing  this  work  for  about  four  years,  and  I am  glad  to  say 
that  the  missionary  gentlemen,  under  whom  I have  served,  have  expressed 
themselves  satisfied  with  my  conduct.  My  ambition  is  to  please  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  first,  and  then  to  give  my  employers  satisfaction;  and  I am 
glad  that,  though  I have  considered  it  my  duty  and  privilege  freely  to  ex- 
press my  opinions  in  Indian  journals  on  subjects  appertaining  to  our  work, 
I have  not  been  considered  disrespectful  in  my  private  intercourse  with 
those  whom  I love  and  honor;  and  I have  tried  to  be  loyal  to  the  Great 
Master.  My  modes  of  operation  are  visitation,  public  lectures  in  English 
and  in  Urdu,  preaching  and  itinerancy.  I spend  the  first  six  months  of  the 
year  at  home  in  Lucknow,  delivering  two  courses  of  lectures  in  two  differ- 
ent districts  of  the  city,  preaching  occasionally  under  the  direction  of  my 
preacher  in  charge,  in  the  church,  and  in  the  market,  and  visiting  almost 
daily  my  educated  countrymen,  and  holding  religious  conversation  with 
them.  During  the  last  six  months  I am,  as  a rule,  absent  from  home,  en- 
gaged in  similar  work  in  all  the  great  cities  and  towns  in  the  North  West 
Provinces,  and  a few  in  Punjab.  My  work  is  appreciated  everywhere,  and 
I am  invited,  not  only  by  missionaries  of  our  own  missions,  but  by  others 
who  cheerfully  pay  my  expenses.  Besides  this  I try  to  influence  the  edu- 
cated community  through  the  press,  and  I am  under  obligations  to  the  edi- 
tors of  the  Bengal  Magazine,  the  Lucknow'  Witness  and  tne  Bengal 
Christian  Herald,  who  are  always  ready  to  throw  open  their  pages  and 
columns  for  my  articles.  I have  published  a volume  of  lectures  on  Chris- 
tian miracles,  or  rather  the  evidence  based  on  these  miracles;  but  it  is  full 
of  typographical  mistakes.  I wish  to  see  it  republished.  I feel  compelled  to 
say  that  my  publication  work  has  come  to  an  end  for  want  of  funds,  and  if 
some  of  those  who  may  read  these  pages  were  disposed  to  help  me  in  it  they 


48 


would,  I am  sure,  be  pushing  forward  a much-needed  and  interesting 
branch  of  missionary  work. 

Let  me  now  say  something  about  the  persons  among  -whom  I work,  the 
educated,  English-speaking  natives  of  India.  In  all  the  great  cities  and 
towns  of  our  country,  around  colleges  and  schools  opened  by  the  govern- 
ment and  benevolent  societies,  are  clustering  growing  communities  of  edu- 
cated Indian  gentleman,  who,  though  unable  perhaps  to  write  and  speak 
English  with  commendable  freedom  and  accuracy,  are  not  very  far  behind 
educated  men  here  in  literary  and  scientific  attainments.  These  persons 
may  in  one  sense  be  regarded  as  the  leaders  of  the  nation,  and  the  influence 
they  exercise  as  a class  is  great  even  now,  and  bids  fair  to  be  omnipotent 
hereafter.  They  form  the  vanguard  of  civilization  in  our  country,  and 
whether  they  will  or  not,  they  are  leading  the  masses  of  population  it  repre- 
sents. Where? — this  is  to  be  determined  by  their  own  attitude  towards  re- 
ligion. I have  often  said  to  them  that  they  are  either  leading  the  people 
towards,  or  drawing  them  away,  from  God  and  bliss.  Their  religious  con- 
dition, therefore,  can  not  be  a matter  of  indifference  to  persons  interested  in 
the  welfare  of  India,  and  certainly  to  those  who  long  and  pray  for  its  evan- 
gelization. 

With  reference  to  their  attitude  toward  religion,  they  maybe  divided  into 
three  classes.  The  first  class  consists  of  those  -who  are  men  of  superior  ed- 
ucation, pretty  well  versed  in  modern  science,  and  conversant  with  the  phil- 
osophical and  religious  speculations  of  the  age.  Their  religion  is  a fac 
simile  of  that  embodied  in  various  forms  in  Huxley’s  “Lay  Sermons!” 
that  indicated  very  distinctly  in  the  very  first  of  these  “Sermons.”  They 
are  modest  enough  to  acknowledge  that  they  cannot  settle  the  question, 
whether  there  is  a God  or  whether  He  is  a myth.  They  are,  however,  sure 
that  science  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  problem,  and  that  it  may  be,  along 
with  the  various  creations  of  superstitious  fear,  consigned  to  the  limbo  of 
the  theological  ago  which  has  gone  by.  They  recognize  the  order  of  nature 
as  an  objective  reality,  rather  than  a subjective  idea  and  they  point  out  the 
absolute  necessity  of  our  being  or  acting  in  unison  with  it.  They  represent 
such  things  as  prayer  and  external  forms  of  devotion  as  absurd,  the  silent 
admiration  of  this  eternal  and  immutable  order  for  in  defiance  of 
every  correct  principle  of  logic  they  assume  its  eternity  and  immutability 
being  in  tlicir  opinion  more  suited  to  their  condition  as  students  of  nature 
and  devotees  of  science.  They  believe  in  Altruism  or  living  for  others,  but 
they  make  use  of  such  words  as  live  and  act  with  condescending  deference 
to  our  ordinary  modes  of  expression,  which  they  know  are  fallacious.  They 
can  not  possibly  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  we  are  lumps  of  matter  and 
nothing  more,  moved  to  and  fro  by  material  laws  over  which  we  have  no 
control.  Their  position  is  obviously  weak  and  indefensible,  but  they  are 
men  of  education  and  parts,  and  they  can  handle  arguments  and  carry  on  con- 


